Five Years Ago
by FreekyDisaster18
Summary: A case comes back to haunt them and even more importantly, it brings Jackie home.
1. Chapter 1

**SUMMARY: Five years ago, a paedophile stalked the streets of Glasgow and hunted his victims as if they were no more than animals. Five years ago, Jackie decided to leave Glasgow for London even though Robbie finally told her how he felt. Five years ago, they solved the case. Five years ago, they said goodbye. Five years ago seems like only yesterday when the team are reunited again. (N:B Yes, this summary sucks ass but tough)**

**AUTHORS NOTE: A follow on from Just Hold Me so my hint would be to read that one first. **

**DISCLAIMER: I only own the characters you don't recognise **

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**[There's Been A Murder #1]**

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She skipped along the park path not caring that it was dark. She'd run out of the house when her mummy and daddy had started shouting at each other. They did that a lot these days. She could feel that horrible thing was going to happen like it did to Kristy's parents. They called it divorce and even though she had never heard her own parents say it she knew that it happened when mummy's and daddy's yelled at each other a lot and wanted nothing to do with each other.

A little dog ran up to her and she couldn't help but bend down to stroke its head. He watched from the shadows and felt himself thinking about how beautiful his plans always worked. He came out from behind the shadows and whistled, his dog running towards him and he smiled down at the little girl. "You seem to have found my dog."

"She's very pretty."

"I wouldn't say that too loud. You might upset Scamp because he's actually a boy!" He chuckled crouching down to look at the girl eye to eye. "Now a pretty little girl like you shouldn't be out here alone. Where is your mummy and daddy?" She was silent for a few moments before eventually shrugging her shoulders and then looking over her shoulders. "What's wrong?"

"Mummy and daddy shouting." She whispered innocently and he understood that she was most possibly a child that had been taught not to talk to strangers but she was obviously also very frightened at the same time and wanted to know she had someone to turn to. HE had sure managed to pick his moments this time. He was excited, very excited.

"You don't like it when they shout?" She shook her head again and buried her face in her coat as she bit back tears. He moved over and wrapped his arms around her. He smiled when she responded by wrapping her own arms around his neck and she felt grateful for adult comfort where he just bit back the urge to go too fast.

"How about I go get us some ice cream and we just sit and watch the sun go down?" He said gently and she nodded as she took hold of his hand, calling for Scamp to stay with her.

***

"We can't do this here..." The woman breathed as she pressed a kiss to the man's neck, her hands moving down to play with the button to his jeans. Even though she was protesting she knew that if they didn't do it here then she would go insane. Pushing her down to the floor, he laughed as he took hold of her lips with his. Her underwear was quickly moved to the side so that he could enter her. Her arm was stretching out with pleasure when she touched something warm and she turned her head to the side, his lips moving down to her neck.

She screamed.

Staring back at them was a little girl. She was badly mutilated and her hands were clutched in front of her as if in prayer. Her eyes were missing and her underwear was around her ankles. The woman sobbed into the man's shoulder.

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**AUTHORS NOTE: Yes. My introduction chapters always do suck but never mind. Here you have my new case story :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHORS NOTE: Feckle, I really shouldn't start stories without planning them out first. Hahaa. **

**DISCLAIMER: I only own the OC's. Obviously.**

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**[Meeting DS Jenny Scott]**

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Jenny Scott sighed as she bit her lip gently. The phone call had reached the office about thirty minutes ago and she had immediately phoned the boss before making her way over. Scott was a workaholic. She was the first one into the office in a morning and the last one to leave at night. Burke worried about her being too married to the job but whenever had had tried to advise her to take some time off, maybe take a holiday, she had just told him that she was fine.

She had been a part of the team for five years now and even though Stuart held some hostility towards her because she wasn't his beloved Jackie, he had eventually warmed to her and they had eventually made sure that their partnership was work friendly. She didn't hang out with them after office hours because she believed mingling work with pleasure was what always got you hurt. She had been hit on by Robbie so many times but each time she had just blushed and moved away. She wasn't interested in him but he never seemed to give up.

The little girl resembled her own daughter that waited at home for every night because her grannie had always allowed her to stay up long enough to say goodnight. She closed her eyes and then jumped when a hand rested on her shoulder. "Are you okay, Jenny?" came the soothing voice of DC Stuart Fraser and she found herself smiling against better wishes and nodding her head.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Do you want to come stand back here? The boss will be here soon and he'll want to be up there." He explained and she was grateful for him not judging her or asking questions. She had noticed that the team got on like a family here and even though she didn't make an extra effort to be friendly, they always spoke to her as if she was a part of that family.

A car pulled up and she watched as Robbie and the Boss climbed out to move towards where the yellow time had been setup by the uniformed officers. They swapped glances before turning to move towards Stuart. "It can't be, boss." Robbie was saying and Jenny looked over at them with confusion.

"It can't be what?"

"The case we solved just before you started working for us, Jenny, was a child paedophile that would sexually assault children, mutilate them and put their hands together as if they were praying..."

"You solved it?" She whispered suddenly feeling sick knowing that there were two of them out there that could do this to young children. She shook her head. Her hand moved up to hold the simple crucifix that she wore around her neck. One fact the team did know about Jenny was that she was a devout catholic and followed every rule."Why did he make them pray?"

"We'll go back into details at the office." Burke promised knowing that he didn't want to fight this case anymore. He was getting too old to be chasing paedophiles around this vast city.

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"They were praying for access into heaven." He explained softly to her knowing what was to come next would harm her. "The perpetrator was a devout catholic that believed that you could only have sex after marriage and obviously because he abused the young girls, they had been 'unclean' so by folding their hands..."

He saw that Jenny's face had crumbled but it wasn't really because of what she was being told. All she could imagine was her daughter's hands folded in front of her evening as she said her bedtime prayers. She would do the sign of the cross, climb into bed then smile at Jenny simply saying, "Do you think God listens to me mummy?"

"Are you okay, Jenny?" Burke asked again and she looked up at him, her eyes glazed over as if she started to nod.

"Sorry. I was in my own little world right there." They smiled at her before Robbie moved over and squeezed her shoulder. They knew what she was thinking about. She might not have opened up to them about her family but the photo of the her, the soldier and the cute little girl surely indicated that she was married as well as the simple gold band that she wore on her wedding finger. She smiled gratefully at him for the warmth and then stood up. "What needs to be done?"

"Someone needs to go talk to that sick son of a bitch."

"Me and Stuart can take that, boss?" Robbie voiced up and Boss agreed that was a good idea.

"Jenny, do you think you'll be okay to be the parent's F.L.O? We don't want too many people on this case because it will suffocate the parents."

"I'm sure I'll cope." She agreed grabbing her coat and keys before leaving the building. She was in her own world when Robbie caught up with her and spun her round with her shoulder.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm just dandy." She whispered and he looked at her before smiling.

"We're here if you ever need to share that load." She smiled gratefully at him before leaving and Robbie watched her leave, his hands moving into his pockets. He didn't understand why she was so reserved. They'd been undercover and everything together. He supposed it was because she was afraid to let someone in for this reason or that.

"You ready to go?" Stuart asked as he threw Robbie the keys.

"Always.

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Burke sat in his office and knew that there was only really one person in the world that had been able to get inside the head of the perpetrator. It had been five years since they had all been together. She sent them the odd e-mail explaining what case she was working on but even then she couldn't go into too many details. There had been an e-mail saying that she was engaged and Burke could remember Robbie's face turn to thunder as he read the e-mail. Afterwards he had actually thrown his fist into the wall and had ended up wearing bandages for a week or two.

He knew that he wouldn't ask her back if it weren't for the fact that she knew this case inside out. They had been involved with this case for too long to not get involved and feel as if it was their white whale. He sighed as he rubbed his hand against his temple. He was getting too old for this shit now but every time he thought about handing in his resignation, he would look out into the office and see Robbie teasing Stuart, Stuart talking to Jenny and Jenny's innocent but warm smile and he would realise that this was his only life.

He picked up his phone and dialled the number for her boss. It was time he pulled in a few favours because he sure as hell was owed a few by London's finest. He would give her the option to come back. There would be no forcing. That wasn't the way he worked. He knew she had moved on and he was sure they all had too.

Stuart was married to Ewan and Robbie was in a serious relationship with a girl called Amelia, even though he still allowed himself to flirt with every woman that walked past him, and they'd accepted Jenny into the family.

Things sure change in five years.

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**AUTHORS NOTE: Okay so chapter two also sucks but I'm sure it will get better soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AUTHORS NOTE: Woo. I've never been so fast to update. Marvel people, marvel.**

**DISCLAIMER: I only own the OC's.**

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**[Paedophiles, Home Truths and Doubts]**

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Robbie handed his gun in and looked over at Stuart, "Are you sure you want to do this?" The guy had got under Stuart's skin last time because he had made several comments about how Stuart was going to the 'fiery pits of hell' because of his choice of lifestyle. They had actually had to calm Stuart down once because he had gone to lunge at him which was completely out of the man's mannerisms but it had put a stupid grin on the guy's face as he calmly said "no more questions, please".

"I'm fine. Leroy Grahams can't annoy me anymore and besides, I've got an even bigger surprise for him now." He said holding up his hand that showed two rings instead of one. Robbie grinned over at his friend before nodding his head. Stuart had grew in character since his marriage to Ewan and at first Robbie had struggled with the change but now it seemed that the change had done him some good.

The door buzzed and they moved inside to the small interrogation room and he groaned as he saw them enter. "Do you guys like my company?"

"Do you want us to answer that honestly, Grahams?" Robbie asked moving to sit down with the case file. Stuart moved over to stand next to the window because Burke had told him to stay out of Grahams way for as long as possible, "because I have a really good answer."

"You know I've not missed you, DI Ross." He looked down at the man's hand before omitting a low tut. "God is still waiting for you to meet Mrs Right I noticed."

"Well I have more of a chance of finding her than you do seeing as in the eyes of God you have done wrong too." He held up the newspaper cutting that he'd brought with him. "I'm sure the Catholic Church doesn't agree with murder or divorce?" The newspaper cutting was put down on the floor while Grahams thought through what Robbie was saying to him.

"I pray to God every night to forgive my sins. I wasn't myself when I did that business. He understands that I was teaching parents that didn't love their children a lesson." Robbie glared at him as he remembered that was how Grahams had known to pick his victim. He had liked them vulnerable. That why they were more likely to ignore the strict ruling of not talking to strangers.

"Why don't you tell us about your apprentice, Grahams?" Stuart finally spoke up moving away from the window and standing only about a metre away from the table.

"I wondered when you would talk to me again, DC Fraser." He looked at him thoughtfully, his eyes squinting as if the light was hurting him. "Out of interest have you seen the error in your ways yet?"

"Cut the crap and answer my partner's question." Robbie slammed his hand on the table making Grahams jump as he turned to look at him.

"Bad choice of words thinking about your partner's sexuality, DI Ross." Grahams chastised and Robbie clenched his teeth as he fought back the urge to land one on the guy. "I didn't have an apprentice. I preferred working alone because you can never find a pure apprentice. Someone who is willing to follow in someone's shadow was basically a failure at his own life."

"Peter followed Jesus." Stuart commented and Grahams looked up at him before showing them his dazzling white grin. They were surprised that he had managed to keep that with five years locked away in prison.

"Peter was a weak soul, DC Fraser. He needed guidance. Everyone needs guidance to live the right life." He said softly before watching as Robbie opened the manila folder and slid a photo towards him. His handcuffed hands trembled as he looked at the photo. "She's a bonny lassie. Her parents must be so proud of her." He whispered before looking at Robbie, "I don't have an apprentice."

"We must say that this photo say different, Grahams." Robbie barked sliding the other in front of him. Graham's looked at the photo and nodded his head.

"It's merely a copycat."

"Grahams, there are things there that weren't released to the press to save embarrassment for their families."

"The fact I had them praying for forgiveness?" Grahams commented and he looked down at the photo again. "Her parents were fighting and she had slipped out the front door. Her brother had told her to stay but she hadn't listened. She needed to get out the house because the arguing frightened her. She was scared of the word D I V O R C E. She had long since started spelling it out because she thought that wouldn't make it so real."

"You sick son of a..." Robbie started but Grahams just laughed.

"Imitation is the nearest form of flattery, they do say." Grahams just put the photograph down. "You didn't make me say that I wouldn't tell my fans what I had done to the children."

"Your what?"

"I get letters all the time off fellow paedophiles, fellow catholic paedophiles stating how they were happy that I wanted to cleanse their souls." He looked up at Robbie. "I'm also having a biography written. The world wants to see inside my head."

"The reason we should still have the chair in this country is for people like you." Robbie spat out before standing up, putting the photos back in the folder before turning to look at the guard that was standing at the door. "I'm going to come back with a warrant to have his cell emptied of every personal document and to have his mail stopped. Do you understand?" The guard nodded.

"You can't stop my mail from coming to me. It's against the rules and regulations of the Royal Mail." Robbie turned to look at him and smiled.

"How are you going to tell them?" He asked before turning to look at the guard. "Another warrant will be filled in saying that he's not allowed to send letters or receive phone calls or entertain visitors." He turned back to look at Grahams. "It's going to be that way until you cooperate." He moved towards the door before turning back. "Oh and by the way, your wife has happily moved on."

"That's good to hear."

"Yes, her partner is a lovely woman who goes by the name of Tracey." That was the end of their conversation and as the two detectives walked away, they heard Graham's angry shouts but not once did they stop to listen.

***

Jenny knocked on the door, her hands in her coat pockets as the crisp November air was starting to attack her hands and she had wished that she had picked up her gloves. The door was opened by a woman that looked like she'd been crying but at the same time punched as her eye had a fresh colour of purple lining it. She pulled out her badge.

"I'm DS Jenny Scott and I'm here to talk to you about the murder of your daughter?" She explained softly and the woman nodded her head before oening the door.

"You'll have to excuse us. It's been such a shock..."

"I understand, Mrs O' Neill." She promised before moving into the house and following the woman into the living room where a young boy was sat on the couch holding a blanket. He looked about twelve and he had been crying but it appeared his tears had slowly started to cease. He was watching a movie.

"Tommy, this is Detective Scott and she's here about Molly." The little boy turned to look at the detective.

"Do you have a badge?" Jenny smiled at how easily a young boy's mind could alter from the situation at hand. She moved to sit next to him before handing him the badge. He ran his fingers over the shiny metal star and then she looked at him.

"Tommy, is it okay if I ask you a few questions?"

"Are they going to be about Molly?" He asked gently and Jenny nodded as she leant forward so that she could look at his face.

"I understand this is hard for you and your parents but we need to find the bad man that hurt her." Tommy looked over at his mother before turning to look at Jenny. She didn't know what the point in that had been but she had a feeling that the young boy had been spoken to before she came here. "How old are you, Tommy?"

"I thought the questions were going to be about Molly?"

"They are but first I want to see how good you are at answering my questions." Jenny said and noticed that he now warmed up to her asking questions because she was making it more of a game.

"I'm eleven years old. I've just started big school."

"Oh wow, so you're a real big boy now then!"

"Yeah, I have to wear a blazer and everything. I don't like the blazer much though. I look a right geek at times. The kids next door didn't go to the same school as me and they don't have to wear blazers so they pick on me."

"I'm sure they're just jealous of your blazer because they haven't got one." He grinned widely at her. "Tommy, why was Molly outside last night?"

Another glance was shared between mother and son but Tommy seemed to break it a lot quicker this time as he turned to look at Jenny. "Mummy and daddy were fighting again. When they fight it scares her because her best friend's parents have just gone through a divorce and she spends the week with her mummy and the weekend with her daddy. Carla told Molly that she hated it and Molly was afraid that would be what happened to our parents."

"So Molly left the house to get away from the shouting?"

"No." He said but no so confident and Jenny saw that once again he was looking at his mother. "When daddy hit mummy she decided to leave even though I told her that it was a bad idea." He looked at Jenny. "Dad has a foul mood when he's been drinking, Detective, and it scares Molly real bad."

"What did you do to your hand, Tommy?" She asked wanting to get his attention away from Molly. The little boy looked down at his hands and she saw that the palm looked rather burnt and she could tell from the blisters that it was a fresh burn.

"Dad says it's my fault that she was killed because I let her leave." He replied before turning the hand over so that she could no longer see it and Jenny suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

"No." Jenny said firmly stroking Tommy's hair back off his face. "It's not your fault. You're just a young boy yourself and to hear your parents fighting is a hard thing. Even for a woman my age!" She promised and then stood up. "You told her to stay and she didn't listen. You just ignore what daddy has to say." She turned to look at his mother, her jaw clenched as she moved out the living room making it obvious that she expected the woman to follow her.

"Tommy's imagination is vivid..." The woman started the minute she stepped into the kitchen where Jenny was waiting for her.

"I'm not here to judge but we do know that the perpetrator picked girls that were coming from families that were abusive." She explained softly and she looked down at her mobile phone that she had found herself playing with. "I should phone the social services at the state of his hand and your eye..."

"Oh please, don't." She pleaded. "Kevin had just had a bad day at work yesterday and he was taking it out on us. He's trying to change that though." Jenny just looked at her before sighing.

"Do you know anyone who would want to hurt your or your husband?" She decided a change of conversation would work better until she had time to talk to the Boss.

***

"The family are determined they have no enemies but the father has a nasty temper on him." She said as she entered the office. The guys all turned to look at her. "Mother has a black eye and the boy has blisters all over his hand from where daddy pressed his hand against something hot for letting Molly out the house."

"There is nothing we can do about that but call Social Services, Jenny." Burke explained sitting down and looking at the whiteboard. "So dad has a temper?" He tapped his chin. "Does he have any connection with Leroy Grahams?"

"I don't think so boss because the family only moved to Glasgow two years ago when he was offered a job with his company." Jenny explained perching on the end of her desk.

"So we're down to thinking about what Grahams knows."

"I've applied for a warrant for all his mail to be sent to us and he's not allowed to send mail or entertain visitors."

"Why?" Burke asked interested by Robbie's thinking.

"Because he pissed me off by threatening to write letters about how we were mistreating him and some sick bastard is actually writing his biography."

"Crime really does pay." Burke mumbled to himself as he sighed. "I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what autopsy has to say now.

***

Meanwhile in London, Jackie was about to leave for the day when her boss called her into his office. She walked in and looked over at him. "I had a phone call today from Matthew Burke."

"Oh," was all she said as she looked at her new boss. She had never mentioned her old career and she hadn't wanted to. She liked it here. She had a cosy relationship with one of the members of team that was called Sean and she had hardly thought about back home.

"One of your old cases has come back to haunt you."

"Which one?" She asked not really focusing on him because she was fastening up her coat.

"The Angel Killer." He said the same name Burke had used and he watched as her hands stilled on her coat. She slowly turned to look at him.

"I beg your pardon?"

"The Angel Killer." He repeated unsure of what her problem was but Jackie remembered how their suspect had managed to read all their minds. He'd gotten under all their skins and it had only been Jackie that had managed to remain calm. "He rang to see if you were free to go back up there and help them with the case seeing as you're a lot more knowledgeable into the case than their new DS."

"I can't go back." She mumbled to herself and saw Sean waiting patiently for her. That would mean seeing Robbie again and she knew that it was going to be too much hard work for her. She looked at her new boss and realised that she had no rapport with him and thwat was why she mainly missed Burke. Burke had been like a best friend to her. She pursed her lips. "Are you sure you're okay with me going?"

"As long as you help clean the streets of one more paedophile, I'd be happy to send you off every day." He promised before turning to look at Sean. "You can't take him though. I still need one part of my team." She blushed because they had tried to keep their romance secret even though they were now engaged but she nodded.

"Thank you sir."

"Jackie," he called after her and she turned back to look, "your old boss speaks affectionately of you. I hope they don't convince you to stay." She smiled at him before leaving because she also had the same fear.

***

"What do you mean you're going to Glasgow?" He asked as he watched her pack a small bag. She stopped to look at him and laughed.

"I thought you were a detective?" She teased moving over and kissing him. "I'm going to help on an old case that I worked on while I was there." She whispered kissing him again, her arms wrapping around his waist. "Then I'll be coming straight back to you."

"You're going to be near Robbie." He said coldly and she moved away from him, regretting the drunken time when she had cried on his shoulder about missing Robbie and how much she had loved him. He had since accepted that he was always going to be second next to her Robbie but that didn't mean he wasn't afraid that she'll see Robbie again and forget about him.

"I'm also going to be wearing your ring, your name on my heart and counting down the days until I can be in your arms again, snuggled up in bed. Okay?" She promised grabbing her bag and kissing him one last time before moving towards the door.

"Jackie," he called after her and she turned to look at him. "I love you."

"I love you too." She smiled before leaving and he looked at the state of their bedroom before realising that he wasn't sure if he'd be able to cope knowing that she was back with Robbie.


	4. Chapter 4

**AUTHORS NOTE: So I was bored outta my mind in my English Lecture but here you go. This is the typed up result. Sorry, Noel. I know you love English but tough, I love Taggart. Hahaa!**

**DISCLAIMER: I only own the OC's like always**

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**[Their Nights]**

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Stuart sighed with relief as he stepped through the front door but that was completely ruined by the shouts of his thirteen year old daughter. "What do you mean I'm not allowed to wear make-up?" She demanded and Stuart could sense that something had happened at school that day. It appeared that Ronan was popular at school but she felt that her fathers were hindering her because they had strict rulings. She wasn't allowed out on a school night and at the weekend she had a curfew of nine o clock but they had promised that with the years it would eventually increase. Right now, she was too young to be walking the streets in the dark.

"Ronan, we have been over this several times. A because you are too pretty to wear make-up and B because your father and I have made it quite clear that we don't want you looking like your friends do!"

"They look good!"

"No, they don't. They're the kind of girls that try to sneak into the nightclubs late at night and end up in the back alley either dead or raped. Do you think it's what you father wants waking up tomorrow morning with a phone call one morning from Uncle Burke saying that they had found a dead body in a bin and for all of them to walk down and find it was your body?"

"Oh, dad you're so serious!" She grumbled and shook her head. "I know not to go into nightclubs!" She promised and then sighed as if realising that her dad wasn't joking when he said make-up was a no. "You're so mean at times. I'm sure if mum was still here then she'd let me wear make-up."

"Yes, she probably would so how unfortunate that she's not here and you have to live with our rules." There was an edge to Ewan's tone and Stuart could tell that Ronan had hit a raw nerve mentioning her mother but her daughter had started to use that as a line of battle recently because she knew it hit below the belt. "Now go to your room and I'll shout you down when dinner is ready."

She mumbled under her breath before stepping into the hall and seeing Stuart stood there, "Dad, he's being unfair!" She pouted and Stuart gave her a kiss on the forehead before shaking his head.

"I'm sure if you got Uncle Robbie and Uncle Burke's input too, they'd all say no to make-up." He cupped her chin in his hands and smiled. "You're too beautiful to be hiding away in such stuff! Besides, if you wore foundation it would probably clash with that beautiful shade of red hair then what colour eye shadow would you wear to compliment your green eyes and obviously your blush is already there naturally." He teased as she turned bright red at his words. She threw her arms around him, her lips burrowing into his cheeks.

"I love you, dad." She said just as Ewan stepped out into the hall to see why he hadn't heard her go upstairs yet.

"Ronan..." His tone was warning and she turned round to look at him, a sorry smile gracing her features.

"I'm sorry, dad. I should have realised that you were just looking out for me." She apologised before moving up the stairs and shutting her door. There was no slamming and Ewan glared mockingly at his husband. Whenever Ewan had a talk with her, she always ended up mumbling all the way up the stairs before slamming the door shut and then when Stuart talked to her, she knew to apologise and wait in her room calmly.

"I hate how you do that!"

"I have to deal with too many teenagers in my work to not know how to keep them calm." He turned to look at Ewan as they moved into the kitchen. "I think we should omit the odd piece of make-up, you know." He commented sitting down at the table and Ewan turned to look at him. "If we start treating her like an adult, she'll respect us more and I literally mean the odd piece. Maybe the odd tube of lip-gloss, a mascara wand."

"What?"

"Even if we don't surrender this then she'll probably wait until the minute she is out the door and steal some of her friends!" He explained taking an apple and was about to bite into it when Ewan confiscated it.

"You'll spoil your dinner."

Stuart just glared before continuing, "so if we treat her like an adult and give her what she wants with rules such as no make-up for school and then she'll no longer hate us and we have a bridge created."

Ewan had the metal spoon in his mouth as he looked at Stuart thoughtfully before taking it out, "have you been reading those child psychology books?" Stuart responded by throwing a coaster at him. Ewan just laughed before walking over and pressing a small kiss to his lips. "Who thought raising a daughter would be hard for two gay guys?"

"This is why we need a female friend."

"You have Jenny. I'm sure she'll be able to show you the ropes."

"Jenny doesn't even dress like a woman!" Stuart proclaimed turning so that he was snuggled up to Ewan who had perched on the end of the table. "I suppose we'll just have to use trial and error with our little one."

"You're just too soft with her." Ewan whispered before leaning down and taking his lips with a kiss.

"I hope you two are paying for my counselling." The voice of their daughter came as she moved through the kitchen, heading to the fridge and pulling out a can of cola. She turned to look at her two fathers before holding out her hands in exasperation, "Now what did I do?"

"Did I just not send you to your room?"

"I was thirsty though! I have human rights." Ewan started to clench his jaw as he looked down at Stuart who in turn was just trying not to laugh.

"Ronan, you've got to stop pushing your father's buttons."

"But dad..." She whined before sitting down at the table. "I hate having you guys as parents at time. You're too kind and caring." She smiled at this sentence so they both knew she was up to her old tricks.

"You're not going out tonight." Ewan simply commented. "We're staying into have a family dinner."

"You've burnt the chips, by the way." She explained and Ewan cursed before jumping off the table, his hand ruffling her ginger hair as he passed and then turning to look over at them as he reached the offensive pan. Ronan had since moved to curl up on Stuart's knee as if she was a small girl and they were trying not to snigger.

"So do we phone in for takeout or should we go out to eat?"

"Take out!" Both father and daughter cried as they started to laugh over Ewan's cooking incompetence.

***

Robbie noticed that only the upstairs lights were on that night as he climbed out of his car. Ashley had long since told him that she couldn't wait up for him to come home from the office when it was her morning shift because it tired her out. They never fought over hours because they both realised that with both their erratic timetables, they'd always have the weekends together unless Robbie was called in but Burke knew better than to do that most of the time. He understood that the couple needed their time together and Robbie believed that Burke was still shocked Robbie was settling down.

He could still remember the day that he had met Ashley and how she'd saved him from a dark place. It was a year after Jackie had left and they were working on a gun smuggling case. Smuggled guns were being used to execute top drug dealers in the Glasgow area. Both Stuart and Robbie had managed to infiltrate the area but something had happened and there were gun shots heard everywhere. Robbie was shot in the arm and Stuart through the chest. Stuart went down like a tonne of bricks, his hand clutching his chest was already red from his blood and Robbie was shouting for someone to phone for an ambulance but everyone was too busy capturing the bad guys.

They eventually both reached the hospital. Robbie was taken away from Stuart so that his arm could be checked out but he could remember struggling as he watched his best friend getting taken away on the gully. The doctor promised that he'd be okay. Two hours went past and Robbie was eventually allowed to see Stuart. The bullet had been removed from his arm and he now wore it in a sling. He stood at the end of Stuart's bed and felt guilty that Stuart had taken the main bullet. Stuart had a family to think about whereas Robbie had no one. In the dark year he had contemplated suicide many times but he had found himself either not brave enough or finding excuses not to do it.

That was when the door opened and in walked a fiery haired fox. Robbie politely told her that he thought she had the wrong room and she laughed before explaining that she was Stuart's doctor. She went onto explain that the bullet had just dodged all his main arteries but they had induced a coma so that his body could have time to heal himself. Or that's what Robbie thought she said, he hadn't been listening to her. He was too busy checking out how beautiful she was.

They'd eventually gone out for coffee even though she kept refusing at first. It had led on to steady dates before moving in together at Robbie's house because for some unknown reason to her, he had refused to sell his property and then most importantly of all, he had plucked up the courage to ask her to marry him so that they could be together forever. He didn't know what had made him do it but he sure knew it felt right.

He walked in to the house and smiled as he smelt the bath oils that she used every night to help her relax after a day at work and then other nights when she just wanted an hour with her book, a glass of wine and time to herself. Robbie understood this because during this hour, he was normally down at the pub with either Burke or Stuart or the pair of them, Jenny still had to come out with them one night but no one pressured her because they knew she liked to be home to tuck her daughter into bed.

As he climbed up the stairs, he fiddled with the knot in his tie. He was determined to take if off but he knew it was a struggle because thanks to his playing, he always managed to make it tighter than it had been originally. He smiled as he stopped at their bedroom door and saw her lying on the bed with her latest crime novel resting on her chest and her little bedside lamp still glowing. He loved that sight more than anything. That showed him that his family life was real.

Moving round, he lifted the book off her chest and placed the bookmark – a napkin from their first date where he had hastily scribbled his number and left his name – into the book. He had told her many times that he would replace that bookmark but she had just smiled and said that she liked that one too much to have it replaced. He rested it on the table and then leant down to press a small kiss to her lips, smiling more as she stirred and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You're home late." She teased and he knew that she wasn't angry so he just straddled her before rolling over onto his side of the bed, his hand on her hip as he looked down at her.

"An old case has come back to haunt us and it looks like it's going to be a long one." She knew that he couldn't tell her about the case but she was always grateful when he told her that she might not be seeing him often.

"Do you want me to cancel this weekend?" He looked down at her and then remembered that this weekend they were going to her parents' country house to help her sister, Andrea, prepare for her wedding that was in like a month or something.

"No. I'm sure I can wrangle the boss into letting me have this weekend off." He whispered kissing her lightly again before stroking her cheek gently. "You have the early shift tomorrow morning so you best get sleeping." She just moaned with a pout before giving him one final kiss then starting to fall asleep.

"I love you." She whispered gently making him smile and then take her lips with his.

"I love you too." He replied before climbing off the bed and looking down at her sleeping form. He had seriously believed that when Jackie had left, he would never find someone else to love but here she was, the love of his life asleep in his bed with a small smile on her face. He knew that life couldn't get any better than that.

***

Jenny walked into her house and smiled as her daughter ran into her arms. Jenny's mother arrived at the door and frowned. She had already told Jenny several times before to try and be home before nine o clock on a school night because it was unhealthy for the young girl to stop up so late. She knew that she'd have to explain to her mother later but first she was going to take her princess upstairs.

"Mummy, are you okay?" The observant little girl asked as she fiddled with the chain around her mother's neck. Jenny smiled at her baby before lying her down on the bed, giving the top of her head a light kiss.

"Mummy is just sleepy, baby." She lied as she covered her baby with the covers. Instead she was picturing Leigh in the place of that little girl that they had found dead in the park. She could see her own daughter clutching her hands in prayer, begging for forgiveness after she had been violated by a much older man and she knew she had to stop thinking like that but it was also really hard.

"Are you going to bed now too?"

"I best go talk to Grannie first."

"She mad though!" Jenny smiled at how Leigh always seemed to know when her grannie was angry at her mother. It was true. Elizabeth McGonagall was going to be angry with Jenny for the rest of the evening but Jenny didn't care.

"Well she can be mad because the only person I care about is you." She teased tickling her daughter before moving her fringe out of the way. "I love you, Leigh baby."

"I love you too, mummy." She whispered before turning around in her bed, her hands reaching out for the teddy bear that her father had given to her. Jenny rose from the bed and flicked off the light after turning on the nightlight and moving downstairs to the kitchen where her mother had placed her dinner on the table and was sat waiting patiently.

"Are you going to start yelling at me now or are you going to wait for me to eat my dinner first?" The sarcasm in her voice was a large hint towards how tired she was and her mother didn't even flinch, instead she just pouted her lips and shook her head.

"Jennifer, do you not see how much this job is hurting you?" Jenny knew she was in trouble when she got her Christian name and when the surname cropped in – which it probably would later – then she knew her mother was an inch away from murder.

"Mother, I need to do this job." She whispered starting to eat her dinner before pushing it away. "Want to know the latest case?"

"Jenny..."

"It was the body of a young girl the same age as Leigh. Her parents abused and neglected her, she was found raped and mutilated in the park as if she didn't deserve any respect at all. You tell me that doing this job is wrong when I'm chasing demons that can do that to young girls?"

"No what's wrong is you're too busy chasing other people's demons, you never stop to think of your own!" Her mother hissed angrily and Jenny knew that this was going to turn onto another rant about Lee but she wasn't going to allow that to happen. Instead she rose from the table and looked down at her mother.

"My demons can rest for now. I might even like my demons." She hissed angrily before looking away from her mother. She knew that if she could afford to move out and have care for Leigh, she would have left the tyrannical grip that her mother had on her but she also knew that her mother was the best thing to happen to her and Leigh as well.

"Jennifer, I understand that you feel like you need to protect everyone but you don't. You need to protect your little girl!"

"I am protecting my little girl by building us a future." She explained softly before smiling at her mother. "Goodnight mother." She whispered pressing a kiss against her mother's cheek before turning to leave.

***

Matt sat down at his lone microwave meal and stabbed at it gently as he looked over the old case notes. They'd chased after Grahams for so long and now to know that he had an apprentice was literally heartbreaking. They'd fought long and hard to get him arrested! Burke eventually pushed his meal away and thought about bringing Jackie back in on the case. It had taken Robbie a year to get out of his depressed state and that was only because he'd met Ashley, who was an amazing girl and just right for Robbie but that didn't mean he hadn't thought everyday about Jackie.

He sighed as he knew it was too late now to take back his actions but he wished he could. He should have thought about Robbie first and then there was Jenny. She was still really shy compared to the other two and would she feel as if Burke didn't think she was good enough hence the reason he had brought in his old DS? He should know by now that acting on impulse always got you into trouble. He should probably phone her and tell her not to come.

Eventually deciding that was a good idea, he stood up to look for his mobile when there was a knock at his door. Moving to open it he found himself staring at Jackie and knew that phoning her would be too late and the wrong thing to do. He did need her help on this case. "Seeing as you requested me, I supposed I might as well bunk in your spare room?" She teased and Burke just laughed before opening the door wider so that she could enter.

"I didn't realise you'd get up here so fast."

"My boss demanded that I get up here as soon as possible because its bad press to have paedophiles walking the streets. The quicker we catch him the better in his eyes."

"Then you obviously get to go back home to your fiancé."

"Yes."

"You didn't think to bring him with you?"

"Where would the sense in that be?" She asked in a haze sitting down on the couch and looking over at Burke. "It would rub salt in Robbie's wounds."

"Jackie, Robbie is engaged." He said knowing that Robbie had spitefully kept his life away from Jackie since she had walked out on him. She stared at her hands, her lips making an 'o' as she realised that she'd been left in the dark for so long.

"Well that's good to know." She said standing up and looking at him. "Do you mind me staying here because if not, I'd best go find a hotel?"

"Jackie, you're always welcome to stay here." He promised and she just smiled at him before lightly squeezing his shoulder and heading up the stairs. She had no idea why she was so upset over the news of Robbie's engagement but she decided that she'd think about it more when she'd had a sleep because she was too tired to have an opinion right now.

Burke watched after her and decided that he'd kill Robbie with his own hands.


	5. Chapter 5

**AUTHORS NOTE: Stupid case stories. They annoy me but I'm going to work on this. I'm promising you that now :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I only own those you don't recognise from the show**

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**[You're Just Not Wanted, Okay?]**

*******

"What do you mean you're going to buy her make-up?" Robbie asked as they moved up into the main office. Stuart had just filled Robbie in about the latest argument with Ronan and he appeared to be on Ewan's side with the whole make-up thing. Sitting down in his chair, Stuart turned on his computer so that he could check his e-mails.

"She's thirteen and I think we should trust her."

"Make-up first, sex in the back seat of a car next." Robbie filled in also turning on his computer.

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Jenny laughed as she walked into the office and looked at the pair of them. Robbie smiled at her in acknowledgement before turning to look at Stuart as if waiting for someone to fill in Jenny in.

"We're allowing Ronan the odd piece of make-up and Robbie believes the next step is that she'll be knocked up." Stuart turned to smile at him. "What he doesn't realise is my daughter has been raised to not be one of the girls he associates with." Jenny laughed in response. She might not join in much of the bickering but that shared between Robbie and Stuart always managed to amuse her especially when a pencil was thrown across their desk at Stuart.

"She's thirteen, right?" Jenny asked Stuart and as he nodded, she turned to look at Robbie. "I had my first lip-gloss and mascara wand at thirteen."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-eight and Leigh is eight years old." She replied knowing what Robbie was getting at. "I was a good girl and I'm sure Ronan would be too. I think with Stuart and Ewan giving in at this step then she knows that they all have an equal respect so she won't want to go out and get pregnant." Stuart looked over at Robbie with a smug look and wasn't surprised when Robbie told them both to go shove it.

"The boss is late today." Robbie commented changing the subject making the other two laugh and when Robbie's mobile went off, he sighed. "Autopsy." He sighed. "Looks like us three are going to have to take it." He said shrugging his shoulders and wrapping his arm over Jenny's shoulder. "I thought I told you to be on my side when we were arguing?" She just laughed.

***

They read through their autopsy notes and noticed that Jenny was starting to look a little off colour. "Are you sure you're going to be okay working on this?" Gemma asked and the two guys looked up. An immediate bond had formed between Jenny and Gemma when she'd arrived so it was apparent that Gemma was more likely to get Jenny to talk.

"I just can't help but feel like killing this cold hearted bastard. My daughter is the same age with long blonde hair and every night she says her prayers with her hands clutched in front of her chest." The two guys finally understood and took her into their arms as they shook their head.

"You can never think like that when on a job, Jenny." Stuart whispered and held her close. "The first time this happened, Ronan was that age and it nearly drove me insane. I swear to God, she hated me. I would go in every night and make sure that she was okay. I was constantly reminding her not to talk to strangers because there were weird people out there..."

"We eventually had to take Stuart off the case for a day or two, Jenny and we can't have you taken off now because you're our psychologist. You get into their minds and seek out what we want." Robbie explained pressing a kiss to her temple and thanking the lord right there that Jamie was too old to be stalked down by paedophiles because he didn't want to have to go through this heartbreak, he knew it was selfish but he was sure the other two would do the same if their places were switched.

"There was no DNA found on our victim's body," Gemma said and they all noticed that she had called it victim. Gemma normally called the victim either by vic or something even shorter but it appeared that they were all trying to give the young girl some last minute respect. The respect that her attacker had decided she obviously didn't deserve. "But there are definite signs of penetration so he must have used protection. He was a big guy according to the bruises left on her outer thighs as he held onto her to..." She stopped talking because they all obviously got the picture that she was trying to paint for them. "The COD was apparently the cuts to her upper abdomen but she did bleed every one of the 47 knife wounds that he gave to her."

"You counted them?"

"This case is going to be done thoroughly. We can't afford to miss anything." Gemma explained to Robbie. "The eyes were cut out with neat precision at first but someone must have disturbed him because he eventually got messy and then just finished by literally hacking them out."

"Was she...?" Jenny started to ask hoping to god that Molly didn't have to go through that pain of having her eyes ripped out.

"Yes, they're post-mortem wounds. You can tell from the lack of blood, it also means they happened long after death."

"What are you saying?" Stuart asked as he looked up at Gemma, his hand tightening on the piece of paper.

"Our suspect kept the victim for longer than he needed to," and with that sentence, Jenny was outside the office throwing up in the toilets. Robbie opted to follow her so that Stuart could get the rest of the details.

***

In the bathrooms, Jenny had finished spilling her breakfast into the toilet and was standing at the sink allowing it to fill with cold water. How could someone be so cold to do that to a young child? Where was the thrill? She splashed the cold water on her face and then felt a warm hand on her shoulder, sensing it was Robbie, she chuckled. "I'm pathetic and I'm sorry."

"You're not pathetic at all. They were just details of a case that upset your stomach. We all have cases like that. I had it once when we had a case where a body had been found almost devoured by his pet dog .I feared that was how I was going to be found and my whole stomach contents also ended up in one of these toilets. Stuart had come in after me and assured me that I was thinking silly."

"Is that what you're going to do here?" She asked softly, "assure me that I'm being silly?"

"No because this is a case that should make us sick to our stomachs but you have to put your feelings aside. I'm actually going to take you up to meet Grahams. That might put your emotions into anger instead of worry."

"Why do you want anger?"

"That way you don't stop Leigh from ever leaving the house because you know you can protect whereas if you're a worrier, she'll grow up hating you." He explained softly and Jenny found herself laughing.

"Yet we won't give Ronan a stick of lip-gloss?"

"I know." He looked thoughtful for a few moments. "It's a funny world."

***

Meanwhile back in the main office, Stuart was tidying up the desk from the pencil war the three had been having when he heard Burke's laughter. He was immediately terrified. Burke never laughed. It was a known fact. If he was laughing then there was either a really good joke being told or he was trying to win some promotion. Two sets of footsteps rounded the corner, "Boss, we've just been down to autopsy. I put a copy of notes in your pigeon hole..."

"Hello Stuart." He stopped talking at the voice and he looked up before shaking his head. He should have been excited to see her but at the same time he was thinking of the effect this would have on Robbie. Jackie had hardly spoken to them over the five years and if she had it would be the odd scribbled line or the odd one line e-mail. "Are you not going to give me a hug?"

He didn't reply but he did look at her dazed, "what are you doing here?"

"I thought we could do with her help on the case."

"How is Jenny going to feel?"

"Stuart, Jenny is a key part to this case still. She is trained in criminal psychology whereas Jackie is not."

"So what is Jackie going to bring to the table that Robbie and I couldn't?" He flustered and he noticed that Jackie was started to shrink in size.

"Anyone would think that you weren't happy to see me, Stuart." She forced a false laugh and Stuart just smiled.

"I'm always happy to see you but things have moved on since you were last here and I personally don't want to see Robbie go back into the abyss that he was in when you left him and Ashley is a nice woman that he deserves and she deserves him." Stuart's words hit home and Jackie realised that she must have obviously hurt Robbie all those years ago but surely he would have moved on by now? He'd be mature enough to forgive her and accept they'd both moved on for the best?

She heard his laughter and felt her stomach melt. So it was apparent that she wasn't over Robbie Ross but they had both moved on. She had a fiancé, he had a fiancée and they were going to act like civilised adults. He rounded the corner, his arm wrapped around a small woman's shoulder. She was smiling up at him with admiration and Jackie was shocked to how she wanted to claw out her eyes. They both stopped walking and turned to look at Jackie.

"Hello, you must be Detective Sergeant Jenny Scott." She held out her hand and Jenny moved towards her, taking it limply and giving it one shake before moving back to her position next to Robbie.

"You appear to have an advantage. You are?"

"DS Jacqueline Reid." Robbie filled in for Jenny before moving to grab his coat. "Stuart, Jenny and I are going to talk to Grahams. Tell the boss." He called before handing Jenny her coat too.

"Robbie, please wait." Jackie called out chasing after him and taking hold of his arm. HE moved away almost immediately and shook his head.

"Why are you here, Jackie?"

"I'm here to help on the case!"

"Why? Were you not getting enough glory down in London?"

"Robbie..."

"You're just not wanted, okay?" He snapped angrily before taking hold of Jenny's hand and leading her away. Jackie stared after him speechlessly. So Robbie hadn't been able to move on and he apparently wasn't ready to forgive and forget but she really couldn't blame him. She had pulled a real number on him five years ago and god, was she now regretting that.

***

Climbing into the car, he turned round to look at Jenny and waited patiently for her to say whatever it was she was going to say. There were a few moments of hesitation before she started talking, "Robbie, I don't know what happened really well between you and Jackie. I've heard office rumour and I've tried not to listen but if she really did love you and turn you down, she is obviously hurting as much as you are."

"Yet she managed to walk away and start a whole new life in a whole new city. I was left up here with the rejection, facing memories in that office of us together and even worse than that, I know everyone pitied me because she had rejected me."

"You had the chance to leave! Instead you stayed here where you feel comfortable, where you had Stuart and the others to keep you grounded. You sold your house and bought Jackie's... You're the one determined to hold onto the past even though you've managed to move on and have a beautiful fiancée lying in your bed every night, happy to lie in your arms and tell you that she's madly in love with you." She whispered softly. "Not all of us have, Robbie." She squeezed his arm gently and he turned to look at her.

"What happened to him?" He asked softly realising that this moment was where they could bond. She sighed as she looked down at the wedding ring she wore on her finger and smiled sadly.

"My husband was a soldier and was sent off to Afghanistan. He came home to me in pine box and all I have left are his dog tags, his uniform and a union jack." She whispered sadly turning the ring around her finger. "The only thing that kept me going was Leigh because she couldn't afford to lose me too."

Robbie suddenly felt really selfish towards how he was feeling and turned to hold Jenny gently, his hands rubbing her back as he smiled at her. "Don't worry. Leigh is lucky to have you. Just like we're lucky to have you as a friend."

"You're getting too soft in your old age." She teased gently, "don't think that I don't know you're normally heartless or trying to get into a girl's underwear?"

"How do you know that's not what I'm doing?" He teased lightly before starting the engine as she slapped his shoulder. "Come on, oh psychologist of mine, we have a psycho to go talk to."

"Oh we always get the fun jobs," she laughed loudly squeezing his hand one last time before putting on her seatbelt.

***

Stuart stood up and moved over to Jackie, his hand lightly squeezing her shoulder. "Don't get upset. He's just angry and this case has hit us all real bad."

"What does Ashley look like?" Stuart moved away from her and went to Robbie's table to pick up a framed photo. That immediately alerted Jackie to how serious it was because Robbie had always hated people who put photos on their desks. He'd always ripped Stuart for the one of him, Ewan and Ronan but he'd never really minded that one because it was an actual family photo.

He handed her the frame and she took it with trembling hands. They were at a picnic and she could spy Ronan in the corner meaning that Ashley obviously hung about with both Stuart and Ewan too. She was sat cross legged on the blanket and Robbie was kneeling up behind her, his arms wrapped around her neck as he stared down at her lovingly and she looked up at him with the same look of adoration. She was blonde with blue eyes and her figure was slim but she didn't flaunt it. Jackie would have put money on this woman being the opposite of Robbie's normal one night stand so she must have been something special straight away.

"What does she do?"

"She's a doctor."

"Oh so Robbie finally grew up and realised that he was past his playboy days?" She laughed. "How did they meet?"

"She saved my life. I had been shot." He merely explained and Jackie looked over at him in shock, her eyes widened slightly and her mouth falling open. Stuart had been shot? Why had nobody told her? "There was nothing you could do so I decided it was best if you didn't know." He replied as if sensing her question.

"Do you think he'll forgive me?"

"Give him time alone or even maybe with Jenny, she seems to know Robbie inside out." Another pang of jealousy hit Jackie deep in the abdomen. She used to be the woman on the team that knew Robbie inside out but it appeared this new woman was a hit. Burke had also mentioned her several times with high recommendation. She smiled as she handed Stuart the photo.

"Maybe I'm not needed here after all."

"No. I think it's about time Robbie faced his demons and laid them to rest. It could also do his relationship with Ashley some good." Jackie decided not to admit out loud that there was a small fraction of her wishing that it wouldn't help out his relationship with Ashley. It seemed to perfect already!


	6. Chapter 6

**AUTHORS NOTE: So I appear to actually enjoy writing this story *sings excitedly* Let's hope I don't lose the passion anytime soon, aye?**

**DISCLAIMER: I only own the characters that you don't recognise**

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**[There's Been A Murder #2]**

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They pulled up at the prison and Jenny looked over at Robbie. She could already see that he was not enjoying the fact he was here. His jaw had clenched and his hands had balled into fists at his side. She moved round and took hold of his hands so that she could unclench them. "You can't let him see how he affects you because that's what he lives for."

"Jenny, he lives on knowing that we're hunting down some phantom copycat but to this bastard he is no phantom." He looked up at the building as he heaved a sigh. "No this man knows where our phantom is hiding out and we need to get him to tell us before another child is harmed."

She knew that her words weren't going to work so she just nodded. "Let me do the talking today though. He might thrive at having a new member of audience."

"Why do you think I brought you?" He teased gently wrapping his arms around her shoulder and pressing a friendly kiss to the top of her head and as he did it all he could think about was the amount of times he had done it to Jackie and she had pushed him away, her eyes glaring but mouth alight with the boldest smile.

"Oh you're such a..." her words trailed off and he realised that she still wasn't comfortable with insulting fellow officers yet even though she heard Stuart and Robbie do it nonstop. Instead she just took hold of his arm, her eyes rolling as they moved towards the front gates where they were beeped in.

As always, the guards had already placed Grahams in the interrogation room and he was sat patiently with his handcuffed hands folded on the cold metal table. Jenny stood at the door first looking at him through the window. There was nothing scary about the guy. He actually looked like the kind of guy you could imagine being a father which she decided was definitely a scary prospect. His brown hair had the signs of greying strands, his eyes were outlined by wrinkles that he knew he'd got from laughing and the same lines framed the corners of his mouths. He turned to look at her and she felt her heartbeat race but she didn't show this as she pushed open the door.

"Ah, Detective Ross, you come to visit me again and you bring along a new friend!" He cried out happily. His eyes roamed happily over Jenny as she sat down, her crucifix falling out her jacket and he immediately reached out to take hold of it. She didn't still or even show that she was afraid as she stared him straight in the eyes. "She's one of my own too." He said with admiration and she pulled the chain free from his hold.

"I don't know whether I should be offended by that, Mr Grahams." She simply stated before looking at him. "The young girl was stabbed forty seven times and then even worse, she had her eyes hacked out post-mortem."

"She'll not be able to see her way into the light with that that happened and as you know I never did that to my victims."

"No. You had your own stamp, Grahams." She simply responded and she was well aware of his collection of hearts. She wasn't sure which one was more sickening but she wasn't going to get started thinking about it. "I would also like to say that this young girl's heart was there. Your apprentice is putting his own mark on the killings." Something flashed in Grahams eyes and Jenny knew she had hit a raw nerve. "He's making your work his own. You'll be completely forgotten as the new Angel Killer sweeps through Glasgow..."

***

"You don't seem to understand what I'm saying, Jackie." Stuart said with the notes out in front of him, his hand rubbing her temple. "This killer is an associate with Grahams because no one else knows about the whole praying this."

"His family did." Jackie commented and he looked up at her, his eyebrows rising.

"The only family he had was his wife and son. His son has since trained to be a priest and has rejected his mother because she is living in the life of sin thanks to her beautiful new girlfriend." He said slowly so that she would understand what he was trying to say.

"Religion does things to a person." She simply explained and sat down at the chair that had been attached to Stuart's table because Burke had decided that attaching her to either Jenny or Robbie could be a complete disaster thanks to the obvious hatred that Robbie was showing towards her and she was a stranger to Jenny. "It can turn them into cold blooded murderers."

"What reason does the son have to murder these little girls?" Stuart asked seriously when his phone rang. He answered it, giving her chance to think the answer to the question that he had asked her. His face fell as he hung up and turned to look at Jackie. "There's been another murder." He said before she had chance to give her answer.

***

"...The press will focus on him and you'll be nothing more than a relic that gets the odd line or two."

"I'll still have the odd line or two." He mumbled and she could sense that his confidence was starting to fail as if he knew that she was being deadly serious about him just being a part of the background. His trembling hands moved up to wipe his face before he shook his head.

"You might get that one line or two but we have the power to make sure your name is never mentioned in the press." She really could just make him disappear and he was starting to sense this from the way she sat seriously. If this had been detective Ross he would have been flustered by now. Robbie could lie but there was something about Grahams that wound him up and Grahams knew that.

"What do you want to know..." There was a silence as he waited for her to fill in her name.

"I'm detective Scott."

"Surely you have a first name..." He asked and she looked at him. He found himself studying her just like he had studied all the previous team. He remembered Detective Reid and knew that this woman was a lot prettier. She had a young, fresh look about her whereas Reid had shown signs of age and stress.

"Jenny."

"Jenifer, I presume, is your Christian name."

"No one calls me that apart from my mother and that's only when she's angry with me." She calmly commented before looking at Grahams. "Why are you happy to sit by and let someone steal your limelight?"

"You're a mother." He calmly picked up but he couldn't read it in her. Mother's normally held a disgust when they faced him whereas she was calm and if her insides were turning, she sure as hell wasn't making it easier to read. He was trying to bait her in now to his circle and Robbie sensed this. He, however, decided to let Jenny handle the situation.

She stared at him for a further second before nodding her head, "I have a little girl called Leigh." She explained not afraid to hand him over information.

"Tell me about her."

"Grahams..." Robbie warned from the dark but once again, he noticed that Jenny wasn't put off by his comment.

"Jenifer doesn't seem to mind." He explained staring at her with a gaze that was completely expecting more. She looked at him for a few moments before shrugging her shoulders.

"She's your typical eight year old. She loves to play outside, she's badgering her grannie and I to buy her a puppy so that she has a pet because her best friend just got one for her birthday." She was being evasive and Robbie was amazed at how calm she actually stayed during it because he knew that Stuart would have lost his calm by now if Grahams had asked about Ronan again.

"You don't sound too afraid of telling me about her."

"That's because I know you're safely locked up in here and you can't harm her."

"I have an imagination though." He whispered moving forward against the table. Robbie turned away from looking in the window and focused squarely on Grahams. He was pretty sure that Grahams was going to hit an all time low here and he wanted to be ready. "I just have to close my eyes and I conjure an image of a young girl..." he showed her this by closing his eyes and a silly little smile graced his features. Robbie's hands clenched into fists but he noticed that Jenny once again hadn't even flinched.

She was trained to handle these kind of situations. She was an immense poker player thanks to the fact she could bluff. She could probably tell you the sky was green and you'd have to look up just to double check. However now as she faced Grahams, she could feel her fingers tightening into the palms of her hands as she listened to his words. She could feel the skin being torn by her nails and she probably had drawn blood but she refused to look at it because if she looked away, he would think that he had managed to get to her.

"... Does she look like you?" He finally asked and Jenny smiled at him before shaking her head.

"She looks like her father." Jenny mumbled as she flicked back her red hair, her hands slowly loosening as she knew that he could no longer conjure an image of her daughter.

"That's a shame. You have a beautiful shade of hair..." He froze and smiled over at Robbie. "I know where I recognise it from. How is Ronan?" Thankfully, Robbie's mobile rang at that precise moment so he stepped outside to answer it. Grahams smiled smugly at Jenny. "You're harder to break, Detective Scott. I think we could be great friends."

"Oh, I don't think so." She smiled. "I try my best to avoid paedophiles."

"You'll be spending more time with me soon, Detective." He said watching as Robbie slumped against the window outside.

***

Robbie flipped his mobile shut and pressed it against his forehead. Two murders in two days. There was a point to this. Grahams had been slower with his victims. He had picked one and then another. He had known what he wanted and how he wanted it. He would stalk the girls, their parents and know if they were the right victims to take. He would know if they needed saving.

Opening the door, he walked inside. "Okay, Grahams. 'fess up. How many of your fans did you tell about your trademark?"

"Detective Ross, what has rattled your cage?"

He sensed Jenny looking at him and when she took hold of his hand, he turned to look at her. There was something so vulnerable in her eyes that made him know that telling her that while she was talking to this heartless son-of-a-bitch another little girl had been hunted down and attacked. He didn't have the heart and he definitely didn't want to say it in front of Grahams. However, he should have remembered that Grahams was a mind reader when it came to the original detectives.

"There's been another murder. Is she pretty blonde? No. I think you're going to find she's a fiery redhead that has freckles outlining her face and her arm has evidence of being broken recently. Her green eyes no longer twinkle and she's got the purplish mark of a dying bruise around one of them." He looked at Jenny as he spoke. "This girl doesn't resemble your daughter. Instead she resembles..."

***

Ronan. Stuart had panicked at first when they'd been shown the girl. They were stood at her head and he had just seen the strong shade of red hair and felt his heart stop. He ran over and knelt down beside the body, his heart sighing with relief as he saw that it was a young girl. Her eyes had been punched recently and tear tracks glistened on her freckle decorated face. He closed his eyes as he thanked the lord that it had been his own daughter. He opened his eyes when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned up to see Burke stood there.

"Are you okay, son?" He asked and Stuart nodded.

"Aye, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have..." He couldn't make a coherent sentence and he didn't even know what he wanted to say or how he could explain his panic. He just moved away from the scene, the contents of his stomach gurgling and he knew that his dinner was going to make a surprise visit. He leant against the tree and listened as Burke and Jackie conversed.

She eventually moved over to him, her hands burrowed into her pocket. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Jackie. I was just so scared." He whispered looking at her and sighed. "The first girl looked like Jenny's little girl and then this one..." He stopped talking for a few moments. "Grahams knows something about this and he's being a..." He stopped talking again as he punched the tree.

"Stuart, we know the guy's a bastard. That's why it took us so long to catch him but we know this can't be him. The guy is safely locked away at her majesty's pleasure!"

"The guy has fans, Jackie." He snapped. "Sick people in this world are happy to follow that piece of scum because he was brave enough to do something about his desire and needs. There are people fantasising about that and we know he keeps them afterwards for even more fun."

"You're worked up."

"Damn right I'm fucking worked up." He rubbed at his mouth with his wrist and looked at her. "You just don't understand. You have your life in London now and you don't understand that this case has always been at the back of our minds. Grahams sent us all mail. He kept an eye on our lives and he knows more than he ever lets on."

"Stuart..." Burke called his name and he left Jackie standing there. She had always thought that about Grahams but how much did he really know about them? He couldn't have someone following them. They'd know. She also knows that he wouldn't have an insider... He'd have rubbed that in their faces by now. Surely?

***

Jenny got into the car and found herself studying the bleeding half moons she had carved into the palms of her hands while talking to Grahams. She didn't understand him. It was almost as if he could read her mind. He knew that Molly had looked like Leigh and if this other girl looked like Ronan... She sensed Robbie looking at her and she smiled at him, weakly.

"Are you okay?" He asked her taking hold of her hand and using his handkerchief that he used to dab away at the blood.

"I don't know what it is about that guy. He's charismatic alright. I found myself drawn to him. I can see why he has fans, Robbie." She noticed that he had stopped dabbing and he was staring at her, his hold on her wrist had tightened but she didn't think even he'd noticed. "He has the power to make you believe that what he does is right. The gift of the gab. He'd have made a great negotiator if he'd not gone into the criminal side of the law." She smiled at her lame attempt of a joke and shook her head. "I actually think if you sat with him long enough, he'd be able to convince you that what he was doing had to be done. Damn, I actually would find myself believing him if he said God had told him to do it!"

"Have you ever watched the X Files?"

"Yes."

"I can tell." He muttered sarcastically shaking his head. "Talk isn't influential on a person, Jenny."

"Are you kidding? It can take so little words to make a person do something." She turned to look at him. "If I said right now to you that I loved you, what would you do?"

"I'd assume you were trying to get in my pants." She glared at him. "Okay being serious. I'd panic because I have Ashley and you've never mentioned loving me before but at the same time I'd kind of be happy because I'm me and I like knowing that women like me especially as I'm getting older."

"Then if I said that I literally hated you and the idea of spending anymore time with you made me feel literally sick." He didn't even need to respond. His face already looked hurt and she took his face into her hands and kissed his forehead. They might not have been close verbally but like any family, they all knew how to kiss away the pain. "I'm sorry. That was a harsh way to show my point but do you get what I mean?"

"I think we need to seriously check his mail..." He said looking up at the building realising that he didn't know what it was about that guy or Jenny but he knew that right now, both of them freaked him out.

*******

**AUTHORS NOTE: So I think this was a build up scene and I wanted to give Jenny some airtime. Hahaa, go me! I'm kidding. So I'll have a decent chapter uploaded soon!**


	7. Chapter 7

**AUTHORS NOTE: Another chapter of my latest crime thriller. And guys, it's like nine days until my year anniversary of Taggart. I've nearly been here a year?! It doesn't even feel humanly possible!! Well... I'm glad I have been!**

**DISCLAIMER: I only own those characters that you see on your little box every now and again on STV/ITV**

*******

**[Schizophrenia and Blood Lines]**

*******

It was the same MO.

The little redheaded girl had run out after listening to her mum and dad have one little argument. The neighbours insisted that the parents rarely argued and tonight was probably one of the first nights that it had got that out of hand. The father had had a lot of stress at work after one of the head members of council had collapsed at work with a heart attack so his work load had doubled.

Her body had been found the next morning in the park, her hands in front of her curled up body as she said a prayer from beyond death. She was to pray for her entrance into heaven because she'd been trespassed sexually and that was a sin in the eyes of the God.

She'd been killed after one round of sexual assault, her eyes cut out with the rusty scalpel post mortem and then as her empty eyes stared at nothing, he would force himself onto her again.

There was definitely something stronger and braver about this new attacker, if not more dangerous.

***

"Have you got anything from Grahams mail?" Burke asked as he finished sticking up the photos on the wall. His hand rubbed over his tired face as he found himself staring at the two photos of the young girls and wondering who could do that to something so innocent and fragile.

"No boss." Robbie said flicking through the mail he had in his hand, his heart racing as he too found himself staring at the photos. It was actually quite shocking how much the two girls did look like Leigh and Ronan. He knew there had to be a connection but how would Grahams know about Leigh? Ronan he understood because Grahams had met her when he'd been stalking Stuart last time determined that Stuart would pay for his sins but Leigh... That was a mystery to him.

"I still think we should talk to his wife and son." Jackie's voice finally spoke up and they all turned to look at her. "I know you all believe that neither of them is capable of this but how do you know that Grahams hasn't managed to convince Grahams junior, now also a devout catholic, that his work is that of what God wishes."

"This reminds me of an X Files quote." Jenny commented. ""_When people talk to God, we simply call it prayers but the minute that God talks to someone it's labelled as Schizophrenia"_ or something along those lines." The four old team members looked at Jenny, deciding not to mention the case of Kingston where they'd had the pleasure of meeting the two agents, and waited for her point to come across. "It's been labelled in Grahams notes that he does actually suffer from schizophrenia."

"Right?" Burke asked hoping that the woman would get to the point eventually.

"Well they say that Schizophrenia can be passed on through genetics and what if there is a slim chance that Grahams junior has schizophrenia and his father has managed to corrupt him into thinking that by damaging these girls and ruining their families is that of God's will. Grahams junior is going to think that mending relations with his father is the best thing in the eyes of the lord and to mend things with his father, he has to do as his father asks him."

"Religion sure causes a lot of shit." Robbie cursed throwing down his pen and running his hand through his hair, ignoring the dead eyes from both Jenny and Jackie who both wore crucifixes to show their religion. "So are you suggesting that genes are taking control because that's going to mean a lot of paperwork."

"I actually don't believe in genes as an explanation of schizophrenia but there is a lot of research into the topic. It's more common to find that the genes will come from the mother's side but seeing as Grahams is the diagnosed..." She paused as she pressed her fingertip against her lips. Burke decided this was the issue with having a psychologist on the team. If she started saying that there was a gene for violence, he actually believed that he was going to throw her out of the room and not let her back in. Ever. He didn't care how much he liked her.

"Also the warden told me that Grahams writes to his son every Friday and nearly every letter has been sent back opened. However, there are a few missing as if Grahams Junior knew that the big guns would be reading what daddy was saying to him." Robbie commented waving the pile of letters in Burke's direction. "They could be the letters that Jenny talks about in her theory."

"Instead of theorising, we need someone to go talk to him. Jackie, Stuart." He demanded pointing at the door and then he looked at Jenny. "I understand you were hired for your psychobabble but can you kind of keep it under wraps while you go talk to Mrs Grahams with Robbie?"

"I don't think she'd like being called that anymore, boss." Robbie commented standing up and grabbing his coat. "I also think the psychobabble was pretty interesting."

"You're such a bad liar." She laughed putting on her own coat and grabbing her gloves off Robbie's desk. "I don't know if this will do any good. I still don't think either of them is capable of it."

"Well we still have to do as the Boss says, Jenny, even if we think he's off his rock." She just laughed in response.

*******

"Father Grahams?" The priest was walking down the pews, aligning the hymn books for the evening mass, when they entered the church. He froze at his position and smiled at them. It had been five years since he had last seen them and he'd only been a young naive boy of seventeen. He moved out of the pew and moved towards them.

"Detectives Reid and Fraser, it's always a pleasure to entertain Glasgow's finest." He shook Stuart's hand and then shook Jackie's hand. "I had heard you'd deserted us for England's capital, Detective Reid."

"I came back for a very certain case."

"And from you entering the steps of my haven I can only but guess to whom it involves." His voice was laced with hatred as he spoke of the man that was his father and Jackie looked over at Stuart, her eyebrows raised.

"When was the last time you heard from your father, Stephen?" Jackie asked him as she looked over at him, her notebook out in his hand as he looked over at her.

"Detective Reid, I try to avoid all contact with my father. What he did was wrong in the eyes of the lord."

"The lord shall forgive those who show they are truly sorry and I'd say a letter every Friday is your father trying his best to show that he regrets the... errors... he made in his past."

"I didn't receive any letters."

"Don't lie to us, Father." Stuart commented. "I believe that is also a sin in the eyes of your lord." The glare that Stuart was rewarded with made both of the detectives smirk. They'd obviously hit a raw nerve and when the priest sighed, his hand clawing through his hair he shook his head.

"My father never apologised or asked for forgiveness in his letters, Detectives. He talked with great pleasure at what he had done to those children and it sickened me. I saved my father the disgrace of being beaten by the police – even though he sure as hell deserves it – by burning those letters and since then, I have read every letter before sending them back to him without any response." He paused for breath. "Some sick person wants to write a biography on my father. I hope they mention how he wasn't the model father. Do you know why he chose to hunt down the abused children?"

Jackie and Stuart both knew what were coming because they'd read the reports of Grahams schizophrenia and it often mentioned how sometimes he would talk about the abuse he had made his only child suffer with. He had talked with much glee to how the young boy had enjoyed his "close" time with his father and how they had a bond. That was thankfully kept off record for Stephen's sake but they could see that he'd never really forgotten the years of abuse.

"We do know, Stephen." Jackie whispered squeezing his shoulder gently and Stephen smiled at them softly, his eyes sparkling with tears.

"I'm not going to say he was a perfect father because you'd both know that I was lying but sometimes I do want to wave out that olive branch because no matter what he did, he'd always be my father. I just remember what he wrote in those letters and just feel sick all over. He replaced me with pretty little girls. He always said that I was his special little angel." He chuckled. "That's a lot of irony for you, isn't it?"

"We have to ask you some questions, Stephen."

"Okay."

"Where were you last night and the night before between the hours of six pm and two am?" Stuart eventually asked after a long moment of silence. Stephen stared at them both in silence before shaking his head.

"I understand why you're doing this. I have confession at six, evening mass at seven that lasts until eight and then the night before there was choir practice that lasts eight while half past ten. Mrs Jenkins stayed over to have a cup of tea with me because she wanted to talk but obviously I can't tell you what she wanted to talk about. She didn't leave her until about midnight where she rang and asked her husband to pick her up. He was relieved to learn that she was just here talking to me. However last night I had the company of my cleaning lady, Maggie-Ann because she's lost the keys to her front door so I offered her a spare room until she can get them fixed. I believe we played chess until about half past eleven where she retired to her room and I closely followed after making sure that Benjamin was let outside for his last toilet break and checking all doors. I'm more protective when I have guests."

"Thank you. We're sorry for wasting your time."

"I don't mind at all. I'd like to say congratulations, Detective Fraser." He merely said and Stuart looked at him confused. Stephen reached out and pulled up his left hand where the wedding finger held two rings. "My father might be a bigot and that might be why everyone thinks I've fallen out with my mother but I'm not and it's not. I hate my mother for standing by all those years and letting dad control us both." He took one last look at the ring before dropping the hand. "I wish you look and hope Mr McIntyre is everything you'd ever wished for."

"Thank you." Stuart smiled squeezing the priest's shoulder before turning to leave, his hand on the small of Jackie's back as he steered her out. "What do you think?" He asked as he climbed into the car.

"I actually don't think he has it in him. He hates his father enough because of the years of abuse but like most cases, he still loves his father and feels anger towards the girls more because they became the new "little angels". I bet when the media dubbed him the angel killer, it tore Stephen's heart in two."

"You can only imagine."

***

"Why are you so nervous about this woman?" Jenny asked thinking it was quite funny that Robbie could face crazy murderers but not a lesbian woman that had attacked him last time they were on the case. She had read about it in the notes and had made a teasing joke about how they couldn't take him anywhere. Robbie had been proud of her speed and for her finally being able to tease but he also felt as if it was out of place and had had to explain that he'd had her threatened with a restraining order because she'd got overly obsessive. "I mean you both have so much in common this time."

"And what could that be?"

"You both have a beautiful fiancée?" She replied and found herself smiling when Robbie finally chuckled.

"How did I survive without you for so long?" He teased opening the gate and allowing her to go first.

"Detective Inspector Ross." The voice immediately made him shudder but he turned round from his task of locking the gate and smiled at Mrs Grahams. "Now you're a face I didn't think I'd see again!" She laughed brightly before turning her attention to Jenny. "You have a new partner, I see. Am I right to understand the previous deserted you for London?"

"Mrs Grahams..."

"Don't call me that!" She shouted angrily, her hand clinging to the crucifix that dangled around her neck as she stared at him in horror. "I'll stop with the questions if you promise not to call me that. I've forgotten everything that man ever did to me and I'm determined it shall stay that way."

"Can we move this inside, Miss Lennox because there are a few questions that my partner and I need to ask you?" Jenny asked moving towards the front step and the woman nodded as she moved into the house, leaving the front door open so that they could come through.

"What can I do for you?"

"Where were you last night and the night before between the hours of six pm and 3 am?" Robbie asked sitting down, allowing Jenny to take the notes because he couldn't be bothered to reach into his pocket and pull his out.

"I was here with Tracey."

"What was you doing?"

"We were watching television as we always do the night before but last night there was nothing on so we curled up and watched Dirty Dancing. The disk should still be in the DVD if you would like to..." She stood up and clicked the eject button and sure enough, Dirty Dancing was the disk in the drive.

"What time will Miss Jeffries be home, Miss Lennox?" Robbie asked staring at the woman, his hands rubbing at his knees nervously and Jenny wanted to move over and take hold of them to keep them steady.

"She doesn't finish work until late." She replied in a flippant tone before sighing. "Can I ask what this is about?"

"There have been two murders using your ex-husbands MO. The praying hands were used and we know that only the family know about that so we came to ask a few questions and establish you had an alibi just like any other case, Miss Lennox." Jenny explained in a vague kind of way before standing up. "Do you know of anyone that you could have told about the praying hands, Miss Lennox?"

"Detective, I erased all thoughts of my husband when the divorce was declared granted and I can promise you that I don't brag about knowing him. Do you know how much I had to fight to get rid of the stigma of being the wife of the Angel Killer? They all believed I was a bitter woman that had noticed but had believed that if I pretend it isn't happening and then it won't happen. I've forgotten my husband and that's how it's going to stay."

"Thank you for asking our questions but as always don't leave the country." Robbie warned steering Jenny out of the house.

She stood at the living room door, her hands clenching into fists and her heart racing as she moved through to where the telephone was kept. She took a deep breath before lifting the phone and dialling a mobile number.

"I've just had the police here... what if they go after Stephen... you know who is doing this and they think that we're the only... don't interrupt me... they think we're the only ones that know about the praying... we've hurt Stephen enough over the years, I don't want him dragged into this... how do you mean you'll take care of this... don't take that tone with me! I'm his mother. Of course I'm allowed to be worried... I think you lost the father role a while ago... I don't care what you do; just fix this because I don't want our baby hurt anymore than he already is."

She hung up, her hands shaking as she looked out over the quiet living room. She hated turning to him so much but when it came to Stephen there was nothing else she could do seeing as he refused to have any contact with her. She sat down on the couch and just let the tears fall until when Tracey came home.

*******

"Boss..." Robbie said with concern as he opened his locker and saw a note had been tacked inside. Jenny and Stuart both moved over and opened their lockers. Attached to the doors were also white notes and each one said the same thing.

"**An eye for an eye.  
A tooth for a tooth."**


	8. Chapter 8

**AUTHORS NOTE: Three days until a year since I published the first chapter of JAD. I can't believe it. I'm starting to get all hyper like our beloved Lee did *dances* so I'm here with a chapter of FYA and I'm going to plan a small one shot to write the for the tenth **

**DISCLAIMER: I only own the characters you don't recognise off an episode **

*******

**[Threatened]**

*******

It had been a week since the threats had been found tacked in the lockers of the three detectives. They'd scoured through the CCTV but to no avail. The person that did do it had worn an oversized hooded sweatshirt so that no figure could be read. The hood was up and a pair of large sunglasses and a scarf hid most of their face. Burke had gone insane at the security but they also claimed that they hadn't seen him or if they had seen him, how they'd been stupid enough to let him past! He didn't care that he'd said they were coming with information for Burke or that they should a pass because it was against the rules to be allowed to wear a hooded sweatshirt. They didn't see anyone in a sweatshirt. Burke had given up and stormed into the office muttering about a brain the size of a pea.

The three detectives threatened didn't understand what it was on about so Robbie asked for permission to go see Grahams in hope that the man would be able to explain what the biblical threat was about. Burke granted the permission but ordered him to take a partner. Jackie started to get herself ready like she always used to whenever Burke said Robbie needed a partner and she felt completely pathetic when he just watched her for a moment and then turned to Jenny, "You coming, Jenny?"

Jenny looked over at Jackie and saw the hurt highlighting the woman's face. She knew that Robbie had been ignoring Jackie the whole time she was here even though Jenny had told him on several occasions that hurting her was just him being spiteful. She nodded as she stood up from her chair. She looked over at Jackie again and saw that she'd turned away from them both, her shoulders hunched and her head hanging. She sighed as she fastened her coat.

"You have to stop this." She snapped as she stepped outside into the cold, her cheeks starting to turn red from it. Robbie turned to look at her. "I'm being serious, Robbie. I can sense this is hurting you just as much as it hurts her and it's unfair to the pair of you." She ran her hand through her hair. Robbie was pleased to see that she was wearing it down today; she'd never done that before. "She moved on and met someone else as did you. I know you say you hate her for breaking your heart but could you ever really hate Jackie?"

He looked at her and knew she was right. There was no way on this planet he could hate Jackie. He knew that he was being a complete jerk to her because he wanted to keep the distance. He didn't want to return to their warm and fuzzy relationship for this case to end. When this case ended, she would pack her bags and go back down to London to be with her fiancé. He did still love her and even though he knew that he would never leave Ashley for her, he did so want her friendship but if he asked for friendship, how was he so sure that he wouldn't want what he had wanted all those years ago?

"I'm doing this to stop me from getting hurt again." He whispered and Jenny knew he was talking about that year where he'd turned to drink and suicide as his attempt to cover the pain. She'd always been the one to take care of him so that Burke would never notice even though she was the new recruit of the team and she supposed that was because she felt in debt to Robbie. He had been the only one to accept her straight away. Stuart was difficult because of his loyalty to Jackie and Robbie had convinced her that Burke was always a hard arse at the beginning of your career because he wanted to test your stamina. That had been proven. Both of the other males now accepted and respected her but she had always felt a tad closer to Robbie.

"Are you honestly telling me you aren't hurting because you refuse to allow yourself that second chance at the most important friendship you've ever had?" He was about to reply when she climbed into the car. He stood outside for a few moments before looking up and saw Jackie staring down at them. There was a big part of him that wanted to ignore her and just climb into the car but Jenny's words had hit home. He raised a hand in a small wave before climbing into the car and starting the engine.

"I hate your degree in psychology by the way." He pointed out before smiling at her laughter.

*******

"Thanks for your little threatening letter, Grahams." Robbie commented as he moved into the interrogation room, his back resting against the wall as he allowed Jenny to take the lone chair. "It was really crafty."

"I do have to take my precautions when I learn that you're interrogating my son, Detective Ross."

"Now how would you know we're doing that seeing as your son hates the ground that you walk on?" He asked casually and Grahams just glared at him causing Robbie to raise his shoulders in a shrug. "I think you're trying to stop us from doing our job properly and I should warn you, Burke will not like that."

"Detective Ross, your boss does not scare me. I have seen more horrors in this place than I would like to even admit are possible!" He explained before holding out his hands and Jenny noticed that they had thin white scars running up and down them as if someone had attacked him with a knife. "Child paedophiles are not welcomed into prison. There is a food chain here and we're lower than pond scum, Detective Scott. You're saving society by putting us in here but at that same time, you're risking our lives. "

"Well you could always ask for a wing that's especially just for you and your paedophile friends but I don't think that will go down well with the taxpayer, Grahams." Robbie sarcastically responded and Jenny noticed that he was leaving her chance to talk today and she could tell that he was angry. She'd known from previous cases that Robbie never took being threatened lightly.

"They're not friends, Detective Ross. I'm apparently the most disgusting man here simply because I stole away their hearts. Romantic attachment is frowned upon here."

"Well it's frowned upon outside this haven too hence the reason you're in here." He quipped and Jenny eventually decided that they needed to build a foundation for this conversation.

"Grahams, why don't you want us to talk to your son?"

"He hates me enough as it is, Detective Scott. I have never asked him for forgiveness and he refuses to give me that until I specifically ask for it but I'm not sorry for what I did. I decided a long time ago not to be ashamed of the way I lived."

"Your son doesn't hate you, Grahams." Robbie commented from his corner and Jenny saw something was going to happen here that would anger both men. "Deep down he wants to love you again but he hates the fact that you had more than one 'special little angel'. Isn't that what you called him when you molested him?"

"Detective Ross!" Jenny said in shock. She'd never known Robbie go below the belt and she was even more shocked when Graham's started to chuckle in front of her.

"You're seriously going to take my schizophrenic ramblings to heart? I talk to my voices all the time. They hate me too because my thoughts are to impure for them. They don't like the visuals of little girls pleading for their mummies or daddy's. They can't stand listening to Stephen pleading for me to stop because all he wanted was for a father to love him normally. I shock my own thoughts." He started to laugh hysterically and Jenny looked at him, her eyes showing the fear that she felt inside. This was a side of Grahams she was sure no one had seen before because he always came over calm and collected.

He reached out and grabbed hold of her wrist, the pressure enough to bruise. "I'd watch out, Detective Scott. The pieces of paper tacked to your lockers were only the beginning." He released her wrist and she gasped as her arm fell to the table. The guards came in and told the detectives that it was best if they left.

*******

"You put Jenny in danger because you couldn't control your anger!" Burke barked at Robbie who was trying to apologise. Burke had watched Jenny enter the office, her good hand cradling her damaged wrist and he had stormed out to find out what happened to find out that Robbie had antagonised Grahams.

"How was I supposed to know that the man had flushed his pills down the toilet?"

"That is not an excuse, Ross!" Burke shouted watching now as Jackie held an ice pack to a wrist that had already turned a deep shade of purple. They'd sent down for the first aider and she was on her way up.

"Boss, I'm sorry. I just..." he stopped talking as he realised that he had no excuse for why he had allowed Jenny to get hurt because of his angry rants towards a man he had always held a hatred to.

"It's a good thing Jenny has a close relationship for you and I knew she wouldn't want action held against you because I'd reprimand your arse right now." He shouted before turning to see Jenny's wrist now being bandaged up. "I hope to god this has nothing to do with you dealing with Jackie's return, Robbie because I know you're a great detective and I wouldn't want for you to lose control again." There was no longer volume in Burke's voice. It was more fatherly concern and Robbie sighed as he shook his head.

"I don't know what came over me but I promise not to be so reckless again." He promised and Burke just nodded his head.

"Are you okay partnering with Jenny still, Robbie?"

"I can't abandon her now that I've had her wrist nearly broken," was his reply as he moved out into the office and wrapped his arms around Jenny who had come over to meet him too. Burke knew that Jenny had a close friendship with Robbie and she'd never have allowed him to get into trouble with it so he decided not to mention anything.

*******

"He threatened that things could only get worse, Robbie." Stuart whispered as Robbie dropped him off outside his home that night and Robbie just nodded. Stuart cursed as he looked up at his house. "I suppose he's going to hurt those precious to us instead of us."

"Yeah because we'll have hurt his son because we interrogated him." Stuart just sighed as he looked over at Robbie.

"Are you okay now?"

"Yeah, I suppose I'm just not coping that well with everything. It's a good thing Jenny loves us." He joked lamely as he squeezed Stuart's shoulder. "Go on. Get in there to your husband and daughter. I have a beautiful fiancée to get home too." Stuart laughed as he climbed out of the car and ran up the steps to the door, waving at Robbie as he drove away.

*******

The door shut and Robbie headed straight to the kitchen for a can of beer. "What happened?" Ashley asked from her place in front of the fire. He smiled at the sight of her curled up with her latest crime thriller and sat down next to her.

"The suspect attacked Jenny because I angered him." He went to take a drink of his beer but Ashley took it away from him. She knew Robbie and she also knew that drinking wasn't the solution to his problems right now. He'd get drunk, cry a little and then spend the rest of the night staring up at the ceiling because he had no work tomorrow.

"Is Jenny angry with you?"

"No and I think that's what angers me more. She could have been seriously hurt because she trusts me and she's my friend, she just hugged me and said that was the end of it!" He ran a hand through his hair as he looked at Ashley and smiled at the expression she wore. "What's that look?"

"I'm just starting to see a whole new side of you. You've always come across a bit of jerk towards Stuart when I'm around but I know that's teasing. I like this side of you that cares about his team mates." She knelt up in front of him and cupped his face in her hands before leaning down and kissing him lightly. "I'm sure Jenny will be fine and so will you be. This case will end and you and Jenny will still be fine."

"What did I do to deserve you?"

"I don't know but I can seriously say I'm so happy that Stuart got shot." She laughed kissing him again and Robbie chuckled against her lips.

"You know if I said that, I'd get called an insensitive jerk?"

"I know this." She laughed and Robbie just groaned before starting to tickle her, smiling at the happy sounds that she made. He was happy to know that no matter what happened during the day at work, he'd be able to come home and have his beautiful fiancée waiting for him. She could love him no matter what mood he was in.


	9. Chapter 9

**AUTHORS NOTE: Okay so I really struggled with this chapter. I was hoping it would be really good and fast paced. It's not. It's actually really lame but meh, I like it enough to post it. It's great for showing you how scared you can get.**

**DISCLAIMER: I only own the OC's but I don't mind because they're cool**

*******

**[Sufferance]**

*******

Stuart walked through the front door that night and smiled at the inviting smell of food wafting from the kitchen. He knew not to get too excited because when Ewan cooked, it might smell nice but that sure wasn't the promise when it came to the taste. He took off his coat and placed it on the rack before moving to lean against the kitchen door.

He found himself smiling at the sight of Ewan in just his boxers and a shirt as he flipped something in the wok. Stuart smiled before wolf whistling. "I'd much prefer to come home to the naked chef." He commented in a flat tone and Ewan turned round to look at him, a sexy smile gracing his features as he moved over and pressed a kiss against Stuart's lips. Stuart could taste the sharp taste of merlot on the man's lips and he knew what that meant. His fiancé wasn't going to work tonight.

"Where is Ronan?" He asked once Ewan pulled away causing his lover to laugh.

"Great. I kiss you and the first thing you can ask is 'where is Ronan?'!" He teased rolling his eyes turning round to move back to the oven when Stuart took hold of the waistband of his boxers and pulling him back against him. He moved the shoulder of the shirt down a little, his eyes meeting Ewan's in their reflection at the kitchen window. He ran his tongue up the column of Ewan's neck before taking the lobe of his ear between his teeth and biting down enough to get a pleasured gasp off of Ewan.

"I asked because if she was here, I wouldn't have been able to do that." He whispered in his ear as he wrapped his arms around the man's middle, his hands feeling the toned muscle of his stomach. Ewan smiled as he moved his head to the side and nuzzled against his partner, his happiness over boiling as he moved the wok away from the heat because he was too distracted to cook right now. It would probably be safer for them not to eat it anyway, he really wasn't that good a chef!

He pressed a loving kiss to the man's lips before taking hold of his hand and leading him up the stairs. Stuart just laughed as he followed him. It was a good thing he wasn't quite that hungry yet.

*******

The young redheaded girl shivered against her coat as she tried to wrap it around her tighter so that she could be comforted against the fierce light night breeze. When Byron had suggested that they play hide and seek in the woods, she had been excited. Being brought up with strict fathers meant she had never been allowed to play out after dark. She'd never complained because she understood what her dad had always seen when he went out to work. She knew that at night he was haunted by dreams of her body being found in the place where the body had so she'd never argued the case because she loved both her dad's too much.

"Byron!" She called out. She'd been the one told to count to a hundred and she was now afraid. She had been walking about the woods searching for about twenty minutes and she still hadn't managed to find Byron or any of his friends. She'd been a little bit sceptical towards playing outside in the first place but Byron had insisted that it would be fun and thanks to her major crush on the boy, she agreed that it would be a good idea.

A sound clicked from behind her and she whipped round, her heart racing as she realised that she had no idea why she had agreed to do this. It was ridiculous. "Byron..." She whispered. "Is that you?" She waited a couple of moments for a response and when she didn't get on, she turned around and continued walking on the path at a quicker pace. She could feel tears stinging her eyes, worse case scenarios were rushing through her mind and worst of all, how would her dads' react?

*******

They laid in the bed together, Stuart's head resting on Ewan's chest as he smiled happily. He pressed a kiss to his husband's heart before turning to look up at him. Ewan's eyes were closed and his fringe was swept to the side, pretty much like the rest of his hair. Stuart had always had a habit of running his hands through his partner's hair. He blamed the softness. The kiss swollen lips were too tempting and Stuart was biting back the urge to reach up and take hold of them with his.

"You're staring again." Ewan mumbled sleepily making Stuart laugh as he sat up and straddled his hips.

"I like to stare."

"I know you do. It just makes me feel like a piece of specimen on Gemma's table." He teased back and Stuart just laughed before reaching over and stealing the kiss he had originally been thinking of.

"Well Gemma can never have you on her table because you're all mine." He whispered and Ewan just smiled against his husband's lips, his hands moving around his back to draw him nearer.

"A little possessive are we, Mr McIntyre?" Stuart still shivered at the use of his second surname even though at the office he still used Fraser. He smiled as he reached down and pressed a kiss against the man's lips, his hands running down the bare chest as he wriggled in his lap. The pleasured moan that was released from Ewan made him laugh.

"I'll always be possessive of you, Ewan." He promised before yawning. "I'm hungry now." He whispered as he started to tease Ewan's neck with his lips and teeth, aiming to mark.

"That's good to... Ow!" His partner cried as Stuart sucked a little harder trying to stop the man from talking and offer to continue making the food he had been earlier. "Alright, I'll go make you dinner. You don't have to eat me." He cried slapping Stuart's backside playfully and Stuart just laughed against his ear, licking the purple mark that he had just made.

"You taste good though." He pouted.

"You are so the woman in this relationship." Ewan teased as he pushed Stuart off him and climbed out of the bed. Stuart just laughed as he looked up at him.

"Yet you're the one in all day doing the housework." He commented and Ewan just glared at him before kneeling over him, taking his wrists into his hands so that he couldn't struggle.

"I think you'll find I'm a manly house husband."

"Really..." Stuart challenged, his breath halting as Ewan reached down but stopped a few centimetres away from his lips. The hesitation lasted a little longer and Stuart felt a lump in his throat before he eventually pleaded, Ewan's name being let out on a long moan. Ewan chuckled as he proved his point but did take hold of the man's lips with his.

When he broke away, he winked. "Come on and you'll finally get your naked chef." Stuart indicated he needed a minute, smiling as he heard Ewan's laughter move down the hallway.

*******

The five boys ran into the house shouting her name, their own hearts racing with worry as they feared what could have happened. "Byron!" His mother shouted, shocked that they were making so much noise when he knew his younger sisters were sleeping. "What's happened?"

Byron went on to explain how they had been playing hide and seek out in the woods and how Ronan had been on. He explained they hadn't seen her for about an hour. Byron's mother stared in horror. She bit back the urge to scream at the five boys for allowing Ronan to be on a team on her own but decided to stay calm because the fear the boys were feeling was probably punishment enough.

"I'll phone her father and see if she has gone home, okay?" She said softly giving her son a small reassuring hug before moving over to the phone and dialling Stuart's number.

*******

Stuart laughed as he saw Ewan stood seductively next to the sink in a pink frilly apron. "I don't even want to ask where that came from."

"Mrs Atkinson next door," he merely explained before grinning. "I told her I needed to show my husband that being a house husband is just as tough being a detective." He smiled evilly. "She might not be talking to you for a while longer though." He decided that no future explanation was needed and when Stuart groaned, he just smiled. Ewan had always got on with their elderly neighbour whereas she hadn't quite thawed to Stuart yet.

"You love the fact that she is the first person in the world to love you before she loves me." He laughed poking his husband in the sides before shaking his head. "I might just go over and tell her what it is you'll be doing in her apron later."

At that moment the phone rang, Ewan reached over to answer and smiled, "What will I be doing in it later?"

"Well..." but Stuart was cut off by Ewan answering the ringing phone. Stuart watched as his face slowly fell over the conversation. He eventually hung up and stared at Stuart. "What's wrong?"

"Our daughter is missing." Stuart stared at Ewan in horror and thought back to the note in his locker and shook his head.

"She can't be." He whispered snatching the phone off Ewan and dialling Burke's number.

"What are you hiding from me, Stuart?" He asked as he watched Stuart put the phone to his ear.

"Burke, Ronan's gone missing." There was a moment of pause where Ewan could guess that Burke was telling Stuart to calm down. "She was staying at a friend's house and... I know. How the hell did I know that was going to happen!" There was a sigh before Stuart hung up.

"Tell me what you're keeping away from me." Ewan demanded. Stuart's hands trembled as he placed the phone back on the side.

"An old case has come back to haunt us and we were left threatening messages this morning saying that our family would get hurt." Ewan glared at him in horror.

"My baby could get hurt because of you!" He shouted angrily and when Stuart went to speak, Ewan just shook his head. "I have no time for your excuses. I have to get changed and go look for my daughter." He stormed past Stuart and Stuart let his tears fall. He wasn't upset that Ewan was angry at him. He was upset that once again, Ronan was just Ewan's daughter again. He'd used the word "my" twice.

*******

Ronan was now starting to run out of breath and as she patted her pockets, she remembered that she had left her inhaler at Byron's house. She didn't know why she had been so stupid but it was apparent that she had been. She stood next to a tree before finally slumping down. She didn't care that she thought there was someone following her. She couldn't breathe much anymore so she was an easy target. She sighed as she felt tears sting their way free.

She should have realised her parents had always been right about what they were talking about when they said the night wasn't a safe place for a thirteen year old. She closed her eyes and focused on the breathing methods Auntie Gemma had taught her once when she'd had a panic attack at the station and her inhaler had been stupidly left in her school locker.

Would Byron notice she was missing? She didn't know and she didn't care as she felt her head getting lighter and her chest tighter, she winced in pain as she clutched her chest with her heart. "Help me!" She tried to shout but it was just a strangled cry.

That was when she felt someone kneel next to her, his hand stroking her hair back off her forehead. "It's okay, sweetheart. I have you." She was lifted off the ground and she didn't struggled. She just curled into the man's warmth.


	10. Chapter 10

**AUTHORS NOTE: I know I was struggling to think of ideas for you recently but after publishing that last one, I kind of decided what I wanted in the next chapter. Please do not worry about my sanity once you've read this. I am normal. Ish.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own the team.**

*******

**[There's been a Murder #3]**

*******

The girl was beautiful.

He stroked his hand through her hair and listened to her whimper.

He knew she was afraid. He could sense it through the way she'd curled up into a ball. He could tell from the way that she sucked her thumb. He could tell from the way her eyes were clamped shut and whenever he whispered for her to open them, she ignored him.

He knew that she was afraid and that got him over excited.

He moved over to his table and picked up the knife. He ran his finger along the blade, his smile glinting against the metal. He had never known anything so erotic as plunging a knife into a young girl's body.

His master had told him that there were two kinds of people. Those who dreamt about doing the deed and those who were brave enough to go out and do it. He'd always been afraid that he wouldn't be the latter one. He remembered the first murder. He had actually left the scene and thrown up everywhere. This little piece of information had been edited when he had retold the tale to his master.

The little girl was trembling as he moved back over.

He knelt down beside her and ran the blade down her arm. She shivered against him, a heavy sob breaking free as she knew what was to come.

She wished she'd never left. She should be tucked up in bed right now, her bear cuddled up in her arms. She remembered when daddy bought her that bear and she could still see his smile. She closed her eyes, singing a lullaby mentally in her head as she screamed at the blade being stabbed into her side.

Why did this man want to hurt her?

She had never done anything to him. She'd just been sat there crying and he'd offered her protection. She'd been stupid to allow it to happen but she had craved the need for him. She had wanted him to hold her close and tell her that everything was okay.

The blade pierced her again and she heard her own voice pleading. She wanted him to stop it. She wanted him to let her go. She wanted her dad. She wanted to live.

He was angry.

The pleading turned him on, the sound of her crying turned him on, the sound of her sniffling turned him on and he wanted to lean down and lick the tears away from her face. He wanted to pin her down and whisper that everything was going to be okay. She was going to be safe.

He did.

He promised her that everything would be okay. It would all be over soon.

She didn't have to know that once she took her last breath, he'd be hacking out her eyes or stealing her virginal innocence. She didn't need to know anything. She just needed to know that she was going to be safe.

He'd lost counts of how many times he'd stabbed her now.

He could see her blood all over, could hear her crying starting to cease. She hadn't fought him. He was still to find a victim that would fight him. He sighed as he stood up and backed away after rolling her onto her back.

He watched her open her eyes.

The piercing blue eyes stared at him for a few long moments and he just waited patiently until her chest ceased movement.

He just stared at her and sighed.

The blood had ruined her beautiful blonde hair and he found himself cursing as he knelt over her, his hand on the side of her face as he took hold of the smaller knife.

"Sweet dreams. God awaits you." He whispered softly before starting to cut.


	11. Chapter 11

**AUTHORS NOTE: I kind of missed both my classes today *hangs head in shame* so I'm going to do something really productive. That's right. I'm going to give you a new chapter of this. Go me.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything. This is all for fun. **

*******

**[Search]**

*******

"Where are you going?" Jenny's mother asked her as she saw Jenny moving through the kitchen, muttering to herself to make sure that she didn't forget anything. She froze as she turned to look at her mother.

"Ronan McIntyre has gone missing." She said softly as she strapped her gun into place and then looked at her mother. "We're all going out to look for her."

"Once again, you're focusing more on your colleague's child than your own."

"To be fair mother, my child is safe in bed while Stuart's is out there." She opened the front door so that her mother could see the pitch black and feel the ice cold wind. "Would you be happy for Stuart to sleep while Leigh was asleep?" She asked angrily before slamming the door shut. "I am fed up of you being a constant bitch about my job. I am going out to help find Ronan if you like it or not." She grabbed her coat and left the house, smiling as Robbie's car pulled up outside.

"Are you alright?" He asked as she slammed the door shut.

"It's just Mother being a bitch that I'm leaving at the middle of the night. You'd think I was a teenager sneaking out to meet my boyfriend."

Robbie grinned, "Oh happy memories." He teased as he started the engine. She punched his shoulder and he laughed. "I'd have been more than happy to sneak you out of your house, Jenny." He winked before chucking his notepad to her. She flicked through it and read the notes that he'd scribbled.

"Do you think it's him?"

"I hope not. You should have seen Stuart. He's completely beaten up especially seeing as Ewan isn't talking to him now either." Jenny felt for the man as she flicked through the notes one last time. She knew that Stuart had strict rules that Ronan wasn't allowed out after dark so she must have been so excited about doing it for the first time. "Let's just focus on searching. We have uniforms out. Me and you pulled checking out the local hospital."

"Okay." She whispered raking her hand through her hair.

"Honey, don't worry about it. We'll find her." He whispered as he reached over and squeezed her hand, his eyes not leaving the road.

"I'm still so angry that my mum tried to make me feel like a bad person because I was determined I was going to come out and help you guys find Ronan."

"If you hadn't come out to help, we'd have all hated you and I think Burke might have just fired you." He commented as he drove into the hospital car park.

*******

Ewan had been left behind in the house in case she came home or they received a phone call. Jackie had been told to stay with him. She had tried to argue but Burke had just shot her down with a glance. He had sensed the tension between the two guys so he wanted them separated and he had decided that Jackie was better off to stay at the house, she'd be calmer if anyone did ring.

"What's got you both in a fix?" He asked his young detective and Stuart dug his hands in his pockets as he watched the uniformed officer search the woods.

"I didn't tell him about the death threat from Grahams and he's acting as if it's my fault that she's missing." He whispered burying his hands into his pockets as he looked down at the ground where his foot was kicking a stone. "If he's got her, Burke, I don't think things will ever be the same again."

"Don't think like that, Stuart." Burke growled pulling the man into a hug. It was a very un-Burke thing to do but he had sensed that Stuart needed it more than anyone right now. "We're going to find her." He promised.

"Sir," one of the uniformed officers moved over to them and waited as Burke gave Stuart one last reassuring squeeze before turning to look at him. "We have found two sets of footprints over there. A small set that shows the height and weight that we believe to fit Ronan McIntyre."

"And the second set?" Burke asked fearing the answer.

"They're about a size nine and from the way the weight has spread out, it was a heavier man."

"It also appears that the young girl either sat down or stumbled here." They pointed to the tree where her footprints ended and the earth had parted as if some force had been resting there. Stuart saw that only one set of footprints led away from the tree and they weren't Ronan's.

"Oh God someone has my daughter."

"Stuart..." Burke said watching as the man kicked at the tree, his hands running through his hair as the tears fell. Stuart looked over at his boss and Burke saw the pain behind them as well as the unspoken question. How was he going to tell Ewan?

*******

"Have you seen this little girl?" Robbie asked the nurse as he showed the photo that he kept in his wallet. Jenny made a mental note to mention how cute that was at a more reasonable moment. The nurse took the wallet off him and nodded.

"Yes she's in room 506. She's being treated for..." they didn't wait for her to finish explaining. They ran down the corridor and walked into her room. Their guns drawn as they saw a man sat in the armchair and a doctor leaning over her.

"Who are you?" Jenny thundered to the man as she pulled her badge out of her pocket so that she could flash it to them both.

"I was walking through the woods when I found her on the floor. She collapsed in front of me and she kept patting her pockets as if she was looking for something so I brought her here. I didn't..." He stopped talking when Jenny's mobile phone started to ring. She quickly explained to the boss that he'd best bring Stuart down here.

*******

Stuart ran into the room and stood at Ronan's side. "Don't yell at me, dad." She pleaded and Stuart just shook his head as he stroked back her red hair, his lips pressing a kiss to her forehead. He felt tears welling up as he looked down at her.

"I could never yell at you, princess." He whispered as he pressed his forehead to hers, his eyes closing. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close to her. "You are, however, going to have a long lecture when you're better about not carrying your inhaler." He warned slightly.

"And you might be grounded for the rest of this century." Ewan's voice said from the door and he moved towards the man. "Thank you for bringing her here. God knows what could have happened if she'd have been stranded outside all night."

"It's my pleasure, son. Just seeing her like that with her father makes it all worthwhile."

"Yes, it is." He said softly as he thought back to what he'd yelled at Stuart back at the house. He had taken away Stuart's rights to the girl by saying "my" and he knew that would have hurt him. He moved to stand next to his husband but didn't touch him because he couldn't take the idea of Stuart being able to reject him in front of everyone.

Jenny and Robbie moved back into the room holding a teddy bear, chocolates and a sandwich because the doctor had told them it would be useful thanks to Ronan's Hypoglycemia and seeing as they didn't know when she'd last eaten, they thought it best to feed her. She smiled happily like a small child as she accepted the bear off her Uncle Robbie.

"I'm not a baby."

"You're my baby." He teased kissing the top of her head and gently punched her nose playfully. "You ever do something like that to me again and I'm locking you in the cellar." He smiled as she giggled and then she looked at her aunt Jenny.

"Is Leigh not with you?"

"No she's in bed like normal little girls." She teased taking the sandwich out of its box and handing the girl one of the triangles, smiling as the girl nibbled lightly. Robbie wrapped his arms around her shoulder, his head pressing a kiss to the side of her head.

Jackie stood by the door to the room and bit her lip. Five years ago, that would have been her stood there. She'd have been fretting over Ronan, the one that had played the mother role. Robbie would have been assuring her and saying that it was okay that they'd found her. Stuart would be thanking her for getting up at the stupid hour to help look. She sighed as she turned and left the room.

*******

"We're going to have to ask everyone to leave but her parents." A nurse said as he walked in and smiled at the group crowded around the young girl's bed. Robbie nodded and took hold of Jenny.

"I'll take Jenny home. Are you two going to be okay?" Robbie asked because he knew there had been tension between the two males and he didn't want Ronan to be a witness to any ugliness. Ewan looked at Stuart before nodding. Robbie knew that they needed to talk so he just took hold of Jenny's hand and led her out. "Are you okay?"

"I'm just happy that we managed to find her." She stopped talking when Burke's mobile started to ring. Both Robbie and Jenny watched him as his face fell. He hung up and looked at them.

"There has been a fire in Ewan's office at the nightclub."

"Right..." Robbie said not quite sure what that had to do with anything.

"Outside in the alley a body was found." Jenny knew what was coming next and she took hold of Robbie's hand. "It was a body of the young girl. It seems Grahams went for the one member of family he knows Stuart has always adored."

"Is anyone hurt from the nightclub?"

"Ralph has a few burns but he managed to get everyone out." Burke looked over at the ward room. "Let's not tell them yet. We'll tell them later. Let's go check it out."

*******

Ronan had long since fallen asleep and Stuart had moved to stand by the window, his arms crossed over his chest protectively as he stared out into the night. Ewan pressed one last kiss to their daughter's forehead before moving over and pressing a hand against his husband's shoulder, a kiss being pressed to his shoulder. "I'm sorry." He whispered to him gently and felt his heart break when Stuart just ignored him. "I know you didn't mention anything because you worry about us and I had no rights to yell at you when you were hurting too. How were we to know that she'd decide hide and seek would be fun?"

"I should hate you." Stuart whispered eventually as he turned to look at his husband, his hand reaching up to stroke the man's cheek tenderly before he shook his head. "But I can't." He smiled softly before shaking his head as he laughed. "We don't have half make an odd couple." He teased as he reached up and pressed a kiss to his husband's lips. "I'm not going to promise that we won't fight anymore and I'm not going to promise that I'll tell you everything that happens when I'm on the job but we should promise never to argue like that and end it with one of us storming out."

"I promise too." He whispered kissing him gently, his arms wrapping around his husband protectively. "I've never felt so alone after we were looking for her alone."

"I know." He whispered stroking the man's cheek and smiling. "I might have actually assaulted a tree."

"At least he was a tree and not an officer but it would be nice to know that you were that wound up."

"I'm telling my officers you said that." Stuart laughed as he pressed a kiss to his lover one last time before looking over at her. "Let's just be thankful she's not a victim to that man."

"I know." He pressed his forehead to his husband's and smiled. "I love you so much it hurts."

Stuart rubbed his nose against his before saying, "I love you too."


	12. Chapter 12

**AUTHORS NOTE: I'm meant to be making this less cruel but seeing as I know what I want to happen at the end, there are seriously NO promises. Here is the next chapter!**

**DISCLAIMER: I only own the OC's. Not making any money and it's all for fun [do you think it's possible to write this on the first chapter and forget about it for the next billion chapters?!]**

*******

**[Final Warning]**

*******

The young girl's body rested on the table and Robbie felt his stomach gurgling at how bruised she was. Her hair was covered in blood and she'd been stripped of all clothes. The bastard that was doing this no longer seemed to care for his victims. He was just proving a point and it angered Robbie. Gemma explained that it was the same MO as the last two victims.

"Now do you want the good news or the bad news first?" She said ripping Robbie from his angry thoughts.

"How do you mean?" He asked as he leant over her shoulder so that he could read the clipboard that she held in her hands, mainly because he knew it wound her up. She closed the board and looked at him. "We'll start with the good."

"Your suspect got over happy and left his semen on the victim's s legs." She then looked at him with a sorry expression. "However when I got the sample back from the forensics, it shows that it wasn't Grahams junior because the DNA doesn't match up or is nowhere near similar enough to that of Grahams senior."

"So there is another sick son of a bitch walking the streets."

"Even worse, he's a worshipper of Grahams." Gemma said handing Robbie the autopsy report so that he could take it up to Burke. Robbie stared at the young girl. "Have we managed to identify her yet?" Gemma asked as she covered her with the long white sheet, the toe tag still blank thanks to lack of identification.

"No and there aren't any little girls been reported missing." He sighed as he looked down at the notes. It appeared that the murderer had now picked his most abused victim. It was heartbreaking to think that no one was missing her yet or was unaware of her death.

*******

"It isn't Grahams?" Burke asked in disbelief as he ran his hand over his tired face. This case coming back to haunt them seemed to be proving to Burke that he was too old to be doing this job. He was fed up of having to fight sick bastards that always knew how to get the better of him. "Who else do we have on the suspect list?" At the long silence, he cursed. "How is it humanly possible that someone is killing children out there, the same way that Grahams did when nothing was ever admitted to the press?"

"It has to be someone that he's close to." Jenny spoke up and that made them all turn to look at her. "We need to know who he has spoken to around the time of the murders. That's everyone. Visitors, phone calls, inmates that have since been released and even the wardens that he is close too."

"What are you saying Jenny?"

"I'm saying that this is an inside job and someone has to know who could be close enough to Grahams for him to have trusted his deep secret with because we all know that he isn't the stereotypical murderer that liked to flaunt his murders. He liked to keep them to himself."

"He had to trust someone enough to explain himself..." Robbie said clicking his fingers as he stood up and hugged Jenny close to him. "You're a genius."

"Okay, Robbie with Jackie to the prison and get a look at his log. Jenny, Stuart, you two can start the search for the victim's parents." Everyone readily agreed on their task apart from Robbie who just stared after Burke. What was Burke playing at pairing him with Jackie? Jenny squeezed his hand.

"You can do this." She whispered smiling before turning to Stuart. "Leigh wants to know if Ronan can come over for tea one day. She wants the lowdown on the hospital." Stuart just chuckled.

*******

"You're close to Jenny." Jackie quietly commented as she buckled herself into the car and she was hurt when Robbie just shrugged as a response. She had hoped that by Burke forcing them to partner, Robbie would want to start being nice to her again. "Robbie." She voiced quietly.

"I don't understand what you want from me." Robbie responded quietly. His hands were clamped onto the steering wheel, his anger obvious through the way he gripped and his knuckles had turned white. "You picked the direction that this relationship went. Do you really think that after breaking my heart, we'd be able to be best friends again?"

"We both moved on. I've met Sean and you've met Ashley. I've been told she's amazing."

"Yes. She is." He flatly said not wanting to talk to her about the woman that he was marrying because he knew that no matter how much he loved Ashley, he would never be able to love her as much as he had once loved Jackie. He started the engine and turned to look at her one last time. "I don't want to hate you, Jackie." He whispered, "but it's much more easier to hate you than allow myself to want to fall in love with you again." He pointed out and before she could respond, he had started the engine and was driving. She didn't want to distract him."

*******

They arrived at the prison and Jackie got out. "I bet you didn't think you'd be seeing this fellow again." Robbie muttered and Jackie noticed that the old amused tone was back in his voice. She looked away from the prison and to him.

"I hoped that once we caught him, he'd be away forever." She sighed as she wrapped her arms around him. She got chills just thinking about having to see him. Robbie sighed as he moved over and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, a little more tentatively than he would have done all those years ago. She found herself thinking of the way he would just throw himself on Jenny and pure female jealousy nipped away at her.

"I know. I suppose we now need to work out why someone would do this." He replied and she laughed.

"Like Jenny said it's a guy that has been allowed the bastard's trust and he's now showing the best form of worship." She shook her head.

"They'll keep the legend alive." Robbie turned to look at her. "You've not made an effort to bond with Jenny. You should know that she's simply amazing. You'd really like her." She didn't bother answering because she knew he didn't understand female thinking. She just smiled at him.

"She's not the one I want to bond with, Robbie." The sentence was simple and it had its message behind it and he noticed it as he turned to look at her and sighed.

"I want us to be friends but are you sure that it can be that simple? I was suicidal after you left, Jackie. Can you not see why I'm finding it so hard to talk to you again? It was thanks to Ashley and the friendships I share with Stuart and Jenny that dragged me back into the real world. I had reasons to get up in the morning again."

"I'm sorry." She whispered moving over and wrapping her arms around him, her cheek pressed against his chest where she could feel his heartbeat. He hesitated for a moment, a moment long enough for her to feel her world sink, before wrapping his arms around her and holding her close to him. It had never really been her fault. He was to blame. He should have been brave enough to tell her earlier.

"You've got nothing really to be sorry for. I was the idiot." He commented before moving away and smiling at her. "So shall we go see who visits this scumbag in their free time?"

*******

They'd been in the prison for about thirty minutes when a guard came and knocked on the window to the office they had been given. Robbie looked up at him and smiled. "Alright Gerard, it's been too long!" He commented moving over and hugging the man before turning to Jackie. "This is one of my old school mates."

"Hello." She simply said before turning back to the work at hand deciding that she'd leave Robbie to catch up.

"Ignore her, she's a workaholic."

"I've heard you are!" Gerard teased before looking down at him. "God you really did make it far, didn't you?"

"And they always said I wouldn't."

"I didn't realise it was you that worked on Graham's case."

"I obviously can't talk about it Gerard but I'll tell you now, that guy deserves the chair for everything he's done in his life." Gerard was silent for a few moments before just nodding his head in agreement. Jackie found herself looking up at him and then sighed. Why did Robbie have such abnormal friends? She found herself smiling at the fact it was like old times again.

"Grahams wants to know if you'll come down to see him."

"How does he know we're here?"

"He knows everything, Robbie." The man simply shrugged and Robbie had to decide that his friend was true with that equation. He sighed as he looked at Jackie.

"Do you want to come see him?"

"Why not." Her enthusiasm was obviously fake and Robbie found himself smiling spite the fact that he was still determined to keep a wall up around his emotions. She stood up and smiled as Robbie held out his hand to help her. She took hold of it and smiled. This was how it was meant to be.

*******

"Oh my days, I think Christmas has come early!" Grahams cried as they moved through the doors to the interrogation room. "Detective Reid, you look amazing." Jackie just looked at him, the old stomach churning feeling was back. She sighed as she sat down at the chair across from him. How was it possible that he hadn't aged a day whereas she had strands of grey hair and her eyes had started to show the strain plus every day she swore there was a new wrinkle? "How is London, detective?"

"It's pretty much the same as Glasgow but with a different accent." She answered honestly even though she had no desire to talk to the man sat in front of her.

"Well they didn't tell me you were back. I think that's quite wrong of them. Don't you agree?"

"They didn't know I was coming. I've been replaced by..."

"Detective Jenny Scott and I must say she's just as good as you, Detective Reid. She didn't respond to me at all. I think that's odd. You women have stomachs of steel to put up with the gruesome details that I can share with you whereas both Detective Ross and Fraser both had to bite back the temptation to beat me."

"You did know how to provoke the boys." She agreed sarcastically and saw the grin flash upon his face. "What do you want Grahams?"

"I hear you had a scare with young Ronan the other night."

"It was Ewan you were after though." Robbie ground out, his hands clenched into fists at his side as he looked at the bastard sat in the chair. How he would love to end the man's life himself if it weren't for the fact he was the only key to finding the killer.

"I know. I should have made them check that he was in the office before setting it alight."

"You..."

"Robbie." Jackie warned. "Why are you hurting their families?"

"Oh Detective Reid you can't even imagine the hurt that I am going to cause. I mean as we sit here I know what's happening." He smiled as he looked over at Robbie. "There was only one reason I wanted you in here and that was for when..." Robbie's mobile went off in his pocket. "...that happened." He finished standing up and turning to Gerard. "I'm ready to leave now."

Jackie watched as Robbie's face fell, his phone clattering to the floor.


	13. Chapter 13

**AUTHORS NOTE: I love the reaction I had about the wonderful cliffhanger, I was tempted to have a whole random chapter here so that you still wouldn't know but decided not to be that cruel :D **

**DISCLAIMER: I only own the OC's **

*******

**[Realisation]**

*******

Robbie rushed into the hospital and saw both Stuart and Burke stood in the corridor. He ran to them, his eyes mentally scanning their faces for anything. When he eventually decided that he couldn't read anything, he sighed. "What's been said?" He asked as he pressed his hand against the window where he could see her lying on the bed. Her small body was covered in wires and tubes. He could see Jenny holding her hand and Robbie sensed that his work colleague was biting back tears.

"No one would tell us anything until you arrived." Stuart said moving over and wrapping his arms around his best friend's shoulders, his head pressing against the shoulder gently. That was when Stuart noticed Jackie standing further down the corridor, her head bowed. Five years ago Jackie would have been the one holding him as if mentally promising that everything would be okay. How things could change.

"What happened?" Robbie whispered and even though a huge part of him didn't want to know. He could just imagine the fear that had swept over her.

"Apparently she was leaving the hospital from work and was attacked in the car park. She's been beaten over the head several times with a foreign object and he..." Stuart faltered and his hand on Robbie's shoulder tightened. That was when the tears finally fell down Robbie's face as he worked out what Stuart's unsaid words were. His beautiful Ashley had been sexually assaulted while out cold just like the man enjoyed it.

"Why did he leave her alive?"

"You can hardly call the state she's in alive." A unfamiliar voice said from behind and Robbie turned to see Dr. Jenson, the actual doctor that Ashley worked for, standing behind them. Robbie moved over and took hold of the woman's hand. "I'm sorry about this, Robbie." She whispered forgetting her professional status before composing herself. "I'm afraid to tell you that from the blunt trauma to her head too many brain cells have been damaged. If she ever did wake up from that state, and the chances of that happening are slim, then she'd be brain damaged." The doctor's voice faltered as she looked at Robbie. "From the cat scan, it's apparent that she'll only stay alive for longer than ten days is if we keep her hooked up on that machine."

Robbie shook his head, his hands running through his hair aggressively as he turned back to look through the window. How could he finally have found happiness to have it yanked away from him so cruelly? He felt the tears falling down his face as he pressed his hand against the window again and wept. "This is my fault." He whispered as his head bowed to the floor, one of his tears landing on the shelf where books were resting.

"No. Never think that." Jenny said as she closed the door behind her, her hand taking hold of the man's hand. She pressed her lips against his shoulder and smiled softly as he took hold of her fingers in his. "You need to be strong for her. We don't even know this has no connection with Grahams. It could just be a random attack."

"He knew it was coming. I was in the cell with him when he got the phone call." He said through his tears as he looked down at Jenny. "How will she forgive me if she dies over this? It's her sister's wedding next weekend for gods sake!" He then looked through the window, his eyes widening in horror. "Oh god, her family are going to hate me."

"No, they won't." Jackie whispered from her position. "I'm sure they'll understand you've done everything you can to help her, Robbie." She whispered and wasn't surprised when he just blanked her. He'd been having a friendly time with her in the prison at the same time as his fiancée had been attacked and she could see the guilt eating away at him. She didn't blame him but she wished that there was a way she could fight in so that he'd understand that she'd always be there for him.

"Is it okay for us to be alone?" He whispered gently and everyone nodded even though they all wanted to argue that it wasn't wise for him to be alone anymore. Burke gave him a squeeze on the shoulder, Stuart a hug and Jenny a hug and kiss before they all left. Jackie lingered.

"Robbie..." She started but he just ignored her as he continued to look through the window. "You can't blame yourself for this."

"I shouldn't have got involved in this case again. We knew Grahams was into sucking out the happiness in life." He ground out before turning to glare at her. "Stop looking at me as if you understand. You get to leave this case unscathed to your lush new life in London whereas I now have to face the fear that the woman that I love is dying and Stuart now can't sleep at night when Ewan is at work in fear that the arsonist will go back for a second attempt."

"You make it sound like it's my fault!"

"Oh nothing could ever be your fault, Jackie. You were perfect, remember? When everyone else was hurting you were down in London. Well you can do that again this time and maybe you'll stay down there next time." He hissed in anger before walking into the bedroom, shutting the door before she could even saying anything.

She understood that it was his anger making him say the spiteful things but as she watched him move towards the bed, his hand slipping into Ashley's she couldn't help but feel the tears falling down her face. He didn't know that she'd spent the first few months crying herself to sleep. She'd been tempted to come home several times but had fought the urge every time. Sure they'd both moved on but now it seemed that Robbie's ever after was crashing down around them and she knew that if it did, Robbie would probably return to the dark days. She could sense the fear in both Jenny and Stuart as well as they'd walked away from Robbie with his lingering looks.

She took one last look and felt her heart break as she saw Robbie's tears, his head hanging over the bed as he spoke to her. She could sense that he was pleading with her to stay with him and she just wanted to fix everything. She didn't want Robbie to be hurting anymore. She moved away from the window, her head hanging as she bit back more of her own tears.

*******

**AUTHORS NOTE: Pointless filler chapter I'm afraid but the conclusion is drawing to a near, I promise :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**AUTHORS NOTE: So I appear to have neglected this fanfiction for quite a while even though it's the one I was getting into!! That's so weird?! So here I am with your next chapter. Once again, I have no idea where this is going but the bunnies have never let us down yet :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I only own the OC's.**

*******

**[The Legacy]**

*******

Grahams sat in his cell and smiled as the detective moved towards him. He stood up and moved towards his door. "Detective Scott, you're looking rather distressed." He commented lightly knowing that she had been close to Robbie's fiancé. He'd done his homework and he knew that she'd be too focused on this so much that she wouldn't probably go home for a while. She'd want to be with Robbie or Ashley because that was the kind of friend she was.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked quietly because that was the only reason she was here. They needed reason, motive or just any scrap of information that would help them understand the mechanisms that was making this man tick.

"Well I assume you've already worked out that it isn't revenge because that's too simple for my kind of work and you know damned well that not a single one of you did anything to me that would make me want revenge." He commented before turning to look at the officer that was stood behind Jenny. "Officer, open my gates and allow the young detective in. She's probably been on her feet all day and could probably do with a sit down."

"I'm fine here." She said curtly before nodding. "I have indeed told them that it wasn't about revenge but they're struggling to believe me. Do you not hate them for putting you away before you could finish your job?"

"Not one of them understood what my job was to do so that's not possible, Detective Scott." He commented lightly before turning his back on her and moving over to his bunk. "I'll tell you about my job. I love having a new member of audience." He whispered and she heard the edge to his words as if he was trying to tell her something without telling her it. He was being subtle and he wanted to make this a game. She was more than ready to play. "I always saw my aim as making sure that all the parents of abused children were punished."

"Why?"

"You're a psychologist, I believe. Is that correct?" She nodded in response and he smiled. "So you're going to try and analyse every sentence I say?"

"Analysis is only one of the steps towards a psychological review to your behaviour, Grahams. You should know that. I've heard that psychology was one of your favourite topics to read on the side." She challenged and he smiled.

"You've profiled me."

"Well not really. Profiling is a very American term for what I do. I simply look at the characteristics of a person and debate whether or not they're psychotic or simply normal."

"What do you think of me?"

"Well you're not mentally insane like they tried to use on your case. You know very well what it was you did and why you did it. You showed no remorse to your victims even though they were young children. Your main goal was to make their parents suffer no matter what and you achieved that to the end. I just never understood why you had sexual intercourse with them. That's not the stereotypical MO for a killer who has the belief that he is here to do God's work. And you don't strike me as the paedophile type even if you did sexually abuse your son."

"What is the paedophile type? It's not as if we walk about with neon signs flashing over our head." He pointed out dryly and she nodded.

"Sometimes I wish you did because that would make our jobs much easier." She joked and Grahams smiled. Jenny Scott was different to the other detectives on her team. She was the only one who had ever thought to analyse Grahams and she had a light air about her. She had a daughter at home and yet here she was socialising with him.

"Your blood must boil as you sit across from me. Mothers tend to have a more of a hatred."

"No. Fathers have more of a hatred towards paedophiles. They have that feeling of how could anyone do that because they knew they couldn't do it." She pointed out and sighed. "Mothers have that horrible feeling that they failed their child and go a little manic. The children then turn to hating their parents rather than hating the person who violated them in the first place."

"I want the world to know my story, Jenny. I want them to know every intimate detail even now as it's being relived."

"You didn't want to tell everyone the real parts beforehand."

"I have changed."

"Why?"

"I want you to solve this. I wanted my legacy ended with a bang and what I have in store for you sure as hell promises that." He promised before turning his back on her. A clear idea that their conversation was over.

***

"Jackie, Robbie didn't mean to sound so cold." Stuart assured the next day when they were all sat in the office. He could tell that the woman was distracted and he had a feeling that the harsh words could be a factor to that. She looked over at him before shaking her head.

"No. I'm distressed at knowing that he was right." She turned to look at both Stuart and the DS that had taken her place because she knew she now needed to offer them an explanation for her thoughts. "I hurt him five years ago and I know you're going to deny that Stuart because you're like that but you know it's the truth. He finally told me what I wanted to hear and I just responded by running away to London because I knew I would be safe there. Now one of the worst cases we've ever worked on has came back to haunt us and I know that after this is all done, I can safely return home to my cosy new life in London with Sean while Robbie will be up here once again in a hell. This hell will be much worse than the one he ever thought he felt with me."

"What do you mean?" Jenny asked her unsure if she understood the other woman's logic.

"This time he won't have lost a woman he thought he loved. This time he's lost the woman he really did love."

"What makes you think he's going to lose her?" Jenny's anger was apparent and Stuart reached over to take her hand, squeezing it lightly to reassure her so that she'd calm down. Ashley and Jenny had always had a close friendship even when Jenny had found it hard to feel welcomed into the team itself.

"I'm speaking hypothetically." She whispered shrugging her shoulders and realised that she was dancing in unchartered waters, she decided to change the conversation back to the case in general. "So what did we learn by digging through his visitor log?"

"That his family never went to visit him and his only frequent visitor was the author that wants to write his biography so that the people can know what he did." That's when Jenny started to click her fingers and she turned to look at Stuart who in turn stared at her in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"What approach was the writer taking towards Grahams?"

"Apparently the writer, a Mr Steven Grady, took great interest in Grahams. He wanted to know every deep and twisted part of the man as he has a real passion for serial killers." Stuart shrugged his shoulders. "This guy has always had a fascination for serial killers. That's what he writes in fiction too."

"Drag him up." Jenny said motioning to the computer screen and Stuart did as he was told, still unsure what she was getting at. Jackie rose from her seat and moved to stand behind Stuart, her arms crossed over his chest. Jenny looked at the photo and shook her head. Stuart pulled the character up on Wikipedia and she clicked her tongue. "There is the only person in the world that Grahams would tell his inner details too."

"Why didn't we think of him before!" Jackie cried out in anger at herself for not having worked out that Grahams would obviously want every sordid detail written in his biography. "Have we got an address for him?" Stuart scanned the page and nodded. "Let's go." She stopped as a courier walked into the office.

"I'm looking for a DS Jenny Scott?" He said checking the name on his corkboard. Jenny held up her hand and accepted the board so that she could add her scrawl to it before he handed her a small package. He was about to leave when Jackie told him to stay. She didn't know what made her do it but she had a gut feeling that it was necessary. Jenny ripped open the package and a necklace fell out.

"What is it, Jenny?" Stuart asked as he watched his friend kneel down to pick up the delicate piece of jewellery. She gasped and covered her mouth as she opened the locket pendant and handed it to him. He took it off her, surprised to see her hands trembling because it was known that she didn't let anything scare her. He took a peek at the photo and saw both Jenny, her husband and a baby Leigh. "Jenny..." He asked in confusion.

"It's Leigh's necklace." She whispered gently and held out the note that accompanied it. Jackie moved forward to take hold of that.

'**THE END IS NEAR'**


	15. Chapter 15

**AUTHORS NOTE: So I have the ideas for all my new stories rattling in my head so I need to quickly drag this one to a conclusion even though there is a follow on one shot that has been planned since like FOREVER and one more chapter after this one I believe. So let the chapter begin!**

**DISCLAIMER: I only own my amazing OC's xD**

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**[The Final Act]**

*******

Steven Grady wasn't a heartless man. He had family. Well he kind of had a family. He and his wife had divorced after she had caught him slapping their daughter once too hard for doing something wrong. She had deserved it, Grady had growled at his wife. She had spilt paint all over the latest script of his novel – a novel that was later rejected by his editors because they said it was too clichéd and similar to one of his previous best sellers – and his wife had said that she wouldn't stand for his violence.

He had immediately felt sorry afterwards when he was left in the small flat on his own and there was no evidence of his family life. No photos, no small toys that had been left. His wife had meant to punish him and punish him she had done. He supposed that was when his obsessions with serial killers really started. He wondered how they had managed to be so adept in a unsocial environment whereas on his own, he was going insane! He had followed the "angel killer" case with such hunger and desire that it had became his life. He bought every newspaper hoping for any scrap of information and then when the arrest had came...

He could still remember staring into the cold emotionless eyes of Leroy Grahams, he had known that he had found what would bring back his flunking writing career. He hadn't written anything in the three years that his wife had left him. His editor had put it down to the soppy terming of a broken heart whereas Grady had told her to fuck off and take that soppy note out of the press. It hadn't been taken out. He hadn't cared eventually because he had a new project. A project that was going to make him big, make him fearless.

He spent many hours in a briefing room with Grahams, a visitor badge wrapped around his neck as together they relived every intimate detail of his life. He listened as Grahams talked about the abuse that he went through at the hand of his father, the abuse he made his own son suffer in thinking that it would erase everything daddy had done to him. His son soon got bigger, smarter and learnt how to hit back. Grahams lost all desire in that. He liked his prey to be weak, vulnerable and begging for redemption. That was when he decided to go after the small girls that came from abused families. He'd watch for little hints in the supermarkets or other public areas and stalk the family for at least a month before acting out on his thrill.

The murder would be slow, torturous and his biggest thrill was knowing that he stole their innocence just as their last breath squeezed out their body. He'd know that he had taken away everything that the child had held righteous but also knew that they only felt a tiny ounce of pain as he forced himself on them. Grady at first had felt slightly sickened due to the idea of his own daughter being the same age but eventually Grahams convinced him that it was the work of God and that by giving God little angels, his own soul would be cleansed.

Grahams lawyer had tried to get him off with the insanity plea. It had been detective inspector Ross that had put loopholes in that. He had stood on the witness box and had said comments that had made Grahams stand up against his lawyer's wishes and tell the court exactly what it was he had wanted when he had done it. DI Ross had walked away that day with a sick grin on his face. He knew that he had made sure that Grahams was locked away for good. He just hadn't intended in Grady coming along.

He heard the drugged young girl starting to stir in the corner of the living room and he smiled softly as he moved over to kneel down in front of her. Grahams had made it written in granite that nothing was to happen to this child. This child was to be the one that made them believe that the angel killer really had lost his touch. They were just meant to be led to the scene, Grady would simply disappear and Grahams wouldn't be too far gone behind him. He sighed as he looked at the pretty girl. He had seen a photo of the pretty redhead that belonged to the homosexual detective and he had nearly drooled at the idea of touching her but Grahams had nearly attacked him at the idea. He said that child was already going to hell thanks to the lifestyle choice of her parents and there was no way they could save her. Thanks to her being banned, he had picked a young girl that looked alike and as his eyes had closed, he had just imagined her instead.

He stroked her hair and smiled. "Don't worry, little one, it'll all be over soon." He promised.

***

They arrived outside the house and Burke looked over at Jenny, "you're not allowed to come in." He ordered and he ignored the horrified expressions of both Stuart and Jackie. They did, however, understand that he would want to analyse how bad Leigh was before allowing the woman into the building. He sighed as he reached into the holster for the gun that he had just picked up. This was the only time the detectives ever carried weapons and Burke sure as hell hoped that he wouldn't have to use it.

A car screeched to a halt at the side of them and Robbie stepped out. He looked too calm and composed for Burke's liking. Burke moved over to him. "You shouldn't be here either."

"This guy has one of my nieces hostage." He turned to look at his boss. "I think Ashley would understand me leaving her side for five minutes so that I could save Leigh."

Jenny climbed out the car and wrapped her arms around Robbie from behind, her tears falling again as she pressed a kiss to the space between his angel wings. She had never thought in her life she would never be so happy to see Robbie. She saw that Burke too was touched by his sentiments as he nodded. "Robbie, Jackie. You two go round the back. Stuart, me and you get the front."

The four detectives grabbed their guns out the holsters and moved towards the front door or the back door. Burke looked over at Jenny sat in the car, her hands holding onto the simple cross that she wore around her neck. He sensed she was praying for his daughter's safety. He turned to Stuart. "Let's do this."

***

The door burst in and Steven stood back, his hands in the air as he listened to the shouting of the detectives to step away from her. He moved backwards and immediately felt a gun pressed into his back. "Do not make me pull this trigger." The harsh voice of DI Ross made him smile. He had been told by Grahams that the last act was to antagonise the man so that he would pull and with that one simple movement, his life would be over just like he had done to Grahams.

"Go on." Grady whispered so that only Robbie could hear. "You know you want to pull it. I was the one that put your fiancée in the hospital. I can still hear the little noises she made, I remember her begging me to stop. I bet you've never heard her begging to stop." He taunted. He turned his head slightly so that he was looking at Robbie. "Do you want to know something else?"

"Shut up." Robbie hissed through clenched teeth as he watched Burke move forwards with his cuffs.

"She called for you. She asked for you to save her a few moments before she fell into the dark abyss. She said she loved you and you weren't there to save her, were you? She died while you were spending time with the woman that broke your heart."

"Ignore him, Robbie." Burke demanded as he tried to cuff the man but he was struggling.

"She's dying, DI Ross. She's dying and there is nothing you can do to fix this apart from stand at her bedside knowing that you weren't there." He taunted before laughing. "It's almost poetic." Robbie's gun dropped and Grady stared at him in horror. "What are you doing?"

"Well if I've murdered my fiancée, I can't add your murder to my list."

"No. No. That's not the plan! You're to shoot me! You're to end my misery! God will accept me!" He shouted as he struggled against Burke's hold but Burke just dragged him out and Robbie looked down at the couch where Stuart was sat with Leigh on his lap, her head nestled against his shoulder as she cried through the aftermath of whatever she had been drugged with.

Jenny didn't run in that long after.

*******

"Explain why you did it." Burke asked as he sat across from Grady in the small interrogation room.

"Living the crime helped me with my writing. I have finished my manuscript. I have sent it off to my editor with a letter that you might want to read it first, Detective Burke. I hope you like it. Your team have quite a big role." He promised lightly before looking down at his desk. "Have you told my wife?"

"She has washed her hands of you."

"I believed that might happen for Chrissy's sake. Did you know that's my daughter's name? Christina. She's beautiful. She's a redhead like young Ronan with the most clear blue eyes you can ever imagine. They'd twinkle when she laughed." Burke heard Jenny talk through his earpiece whispering that the fixation on his own daughter showed a sign of repentance, that he might have either understood that what he'd done was wrong or that he'd wished he hadn't done it.

"Do you believe that what you did was wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong with doing the lords work, Detective Burke." The man whispered before looking at him. "Do you have the time on you?" He asked and Burke looked over his shoulder at the mirror. Jenny explained that she had no idea what that was on but she advised for him to answer.

"It's half past eight." He answered shortly before returning to task. "Why didn't you kill Leigh if she was your final act?"

"Her murder wasn't supposed to be the final act, Detective Burke. My death was the supposed final act."

"Your death?"

"My aim was to antagonise Detective Ross so that he would pull the trigger and end my life so that his own life would be ended too just like he ended Grahams life."

"You treat Grahams like some kind of god."

"He's the second coming," were Grady's last words before he smiled softly at the man. Burke watched as his pupils dilated and then his body started to convulse. He stood back in his chair and moved over to sort the man out, all the time hearing Jenny calling for medical help in interrogation room one.

***

"He injected himself with a drug that had a time limit?" Ewan asked in shock as he rubbed the back of his neck that night at Jenny's house. Stuart had phoned Ewan and had explained what had happened so Ewan had demanded for him to escort both Jenny and Leigh home where he and Ronan would meet them. Leigh had been ecstatic to find Ronan waiting for her and they had disappeared upstairs two hours ago to do "girly things". Jenny had said that Ronan could sleepover knowing that Leigh would love the company.

"They had it all planned." Jenny said in horror as she smiled at her mum that had just walked in and came over to squeeze her neck lightly in an assuring gesture before saying that she was going out with some friends but if Jenny wanted her to cancel.

"It's okay Mrs Halloway, Stuart and I will stay here with Jenny until you come home." Ewan reassured and Jenny's mother thanked her before leaving the house. Stuart looked over at Jenny.

"Will you stay with the force?" He asked softly fearing that this would scare her away.

"It's my job, Stuart. I've fought too hard to let anything stop me. I'll just need to focus more on Leigh and make sure I play the doting mother. She's my life but yet she always gets brushed to the side." The three adults fell silent. The only sound being the two children giggling.

*******

**AUTHORS NOTE: There is only one more chapter after this one xD**


	16. Chapter 16

**AUTHORS NOTE: So this is the final chapter of this story too! I know that it breaks your heart too as well as it breaks mine because I've loved writing this one! Each chapter was worth the aggravation it gave me if I had writers block! **

**DISCLAIMER: I only own the wonderfully amazing OC's**

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**[Final Moments]**

*******

She wasn't getting any better. The doctors had told Robbie that it would soon be time to see if she could survive on her own without the machine because it had been expressed in Ashley's wishes that she shouldn't be on a life support machine. She had known as a doctor how agonising living in a coma could be for the patient and the patient's loved ones. She'd made it quite clear that she didn't want that for her parents, her siblings or Robbie. He stood next to the side of the bed holding her hand.

"Your sister sends her love." He whispered holding her hand. "She's a little peeved that you finally managed to find an excuse to get out of the wedding that you were so desperate not to go to." He teased through his tears as he looked at her. "I told her that she was talking rubbish even though we both know weddings aren't you scene."

The doctor arrived at the door and Robbie realised that meant they were ready to practice. Robbie motioned that he needed a few moments and the doctor nodded in agreement. They were all friends of Ashley's here and they had watched her relationship with the detective flourish. They'd all warned her at first but a new day would pass each day and she'd tell them that they were meant for each other. As they all watched Robbie with her now, they realised that she'd always told them the truth.

"I don't even know why I'm explaining this to you." He whispered using his free hand to stroke her warm face, his eyes really filling with tears as he leant down to kiss her forehead, "but I think I'm doing it because you always said I had to talk something through first to really understand why it was happening." He laughed remembering how she'd always said that was one of his attributes that she'd loved. "They're going to come in here and turn off the machine to see if you can survive on your own." He whispered. "I hope you can because god I love you and I don't want to live without you." He whispered laughing through his tears. "Stuart and Burke would probably want to film me making this admission." He squeezed her hand, praying one last time for her to squeeze back. She didn't. He motioned that the doctor could come in.

"You can stay." The doctor insisted as Robbie went to leave. "We'll need witnesses and this always helps with closure." The doctor turned to look at Ashley, her own feelings starting to rise to the surface as she realised that this was meant to be happening. "And I'm sure she'd want you here, Robbie."

Robbie smiled at the doctor and moved back over to hold Ashley's hand. He had heard the doctor talk about closure so he was readily aware that this couldn't end with the conclusion that he wanted but he was happy to be there. He'd already told her parents about this but they had insisted on Robbie being there while they kept her sister distracted on the wedding.

The doctor did what she had to do before slowly telling Robbie that she was going to turn off the machine. "May I borrow your wrist watch?" She asked and Robbie stared at her in suprise but didn't ask any questions. He merely unclasped the watch and handed it over to her. He watched as she placed it on Ashley's chest that was still moving up and down thanks to the machine. "This might make it more real for you and I'm sorry." She whispered before flicking off the machine and taking Ashley's wrist in her hand, the pulse being checked in time to her own watch.

Robbie watched as his watch rose on her chest before going back down several times but he soon realised that the pattern was getting irregular and the machine showed that her heartbeat was slowing. "Would you like to put her back..."

"No." Robbie said firmly knowing that if she gave him time to think about it, he'd change his mind and break her wishes. He watched as she turned off all the machines and then handed Robbie back his watch. She recorded the time of death professionally before moving over and squeezing his arm lightly.

"I'm sorry for your loss." She said before turning to leave him alone.

***

It was two hours later when Robbie turned up at Jenny's house, his face red from the tears. She opened the door and saw his face. "Oh Robbie," she said through her own tears and pulled him close to her. He allowed himself to be dragged into the living room where he saw Ewan and Stuart sat on the couch.

"Robbie," Stuart said moving over and holding him. "I'm so sorry."

Robbie just stayed staring into the space. He had only come here because he had been told to by the doctors. They had feared that he might do something stupid. None of them pressured him to talk.

***

Jackie looked at the apartment that she had called her home for the past three years from when she'd moved in with Sean. She looked down at the note that she had left him, the engagement ring also tucked away in the envelope. "I'm so sorry." She whispered to the empty space as if expecting the walls to repeat it to him. With that, she turned and left.

***

**AUTHORS NOTE: So that's the end. I do have another one shot coming up after this that'll give you all the conclusion that you want containing Robbie and Jackie so no worries! I just thought I'd leave you hanging a little while longer xD**


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